On Monday evening, Nigeria was held to a 1-1 draw by the Democratic Republic of Congo, in an international friendly played at the Adokiye Amiesiamaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.
William Troost-Ekong opened scoring for the Super Eagles, before the visitors equalized via a late penalty.
So, what are the four things we learnt form the team’s ‘farewell game’?
1. Uzoho has improved a lot: It is an open-secret that Francis Uzoho is Rohr’s favourite goalkeeper in the squad and from all indications, he will be the number one at the 2018 World Cup. The teenager performed admirably against the Congolese, showing signs of improvement from the last time we saw. A shame he conceded from the spot.
2. Dreadful pitch: It was completely impossible not to complain about the pitch at the Adokiye Amiesiamaka Stadium for the entire 90minutes! It was beyond horrible and made playing difficult. One wonders the idea behind taking a friendly to Port Harcourt, at the risk of picking up injuries with few weeks to the World Cup.
3. Simy deserves a place: Crotone forward, Simeon ‘Simy’ Nwankwo, gave a good account of himself in the game. Surely, he must have done enough to take his place in the final squad to Russia. Tall, athletic and skillful, Simy troubled the visitors all game.
4. Poor Aina: Replays of the penalty decision against Ola Aina, showed clearly that the foul happened just outside the box. But it is hard not to feel Rohr is unhappy with conceding late in the game and it might hamper Aina’s chances of making his final squad, especially with Tyronne Ebuehi putting in a splendid performance, before he was taken off.
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