Former Nigerian international Nduka Ugbade has expressed satisfaction with the Super Eagles’ resilient display following their dramatic 3-3 draw against Russia in Tuesday’s international friendly. Eric Chelle’s side showed immense character in Moscow, coming back from a 3-1 deficit. After Kelechi Iheanacho opened the scoring early on, Russia fought back to take control.
However, a brilliant solo effort from substitute Edokpolor Peter and a dramatic 90th-minute stoppage-time equalizer from Akor Adams capped a thrilling fightback. Speaking to Completesports.com after the game, Ugbade pointed out that the team’s lack of extended training time made the spirited 90-minute display all the more commendable.
“To a large extent, I was impressed with the performance of the Super Eagles because if you consider the fact that these players have not played for more than two days before playing Russia,” Ugbade noted. “A lot of passes and balls that were missing, and delay in passes too; all that can be counted as part of the game when, most especially, you have not trained together as a team for some days.
But the quality of the goals and the efforts we showed for 90 minutes wasn’t bad at all.” The hard-fought draw provides a vital morale boost for the squad as they look to build greater cohesion moving forward under the technical crew.