Nigeria’s Super Eagles were beaten 2-1 by the Three Lions of England in their international friendly game played at the Wembley stadium.
The Gernot Rohr side played their second friendly game as they prepare for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, having drawn their last game against DR Congo on Monday in Port Harcourt.
It was a game of two halves as the Super Eagles players got better in the second half having looked out of sorts in the first 45mins when they seemed to be awed playing at the prestiguous Wembley stadium.
With the English team dominating and Nigeria struggling with cohesion, Rohr made four changes at the restart and matched England’s formation of playing three centrebacks and the wingbacks.
Gary Cahill had given England the lead, heading home a Kieran Trippier’s corner, after the latter forced Nigeria’s Francis Uzoho to a save from a free kick, but the Super Eagles defence couldn’t pick out their markers as they fell behind after 7minutes.
The Nigerians struggled to get a hold of the game as Englad made the best of their dominance.
Raheem Sterling came close to finding the net as his chip went delicately wide.
That didn’t help Nigeria put its defence in order as Ogenyi Onazi gave the ball away and Harry Kane from the resulting error drilled a strong shot past Uzoho, who maybe could have done more to keep it out.
At the start of the second half, Nigeria’s enforced changes turned the tide in their favour as they pulled one back just two minutes after the restart.
Jude Odion Ighalo held up play and thereafter found the angle to hit a shot that struck the bar, but rebound fell nicely to Alex Iwobi who found a way to glide the ball into the net for Nigeria.
That goal brought confidence to the Super Eagles and they suddenly pegged England in their own half and had a stronghold on the game, however Gareth Southgate’s team held on and managed to see out the game in their favour.
The Nigerian team will depart for their training base at the Avita Resort in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Austria where they will camp for the World Cup. Nigeria’s first game is on June 16 against Croatia.
