Friendly; Nigeria Vs Cameroon

By Preye Campbell

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will face the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon later today in an international friendly at the Stadion Wiener Neustadt in Austria.

For Gernot Rohr’s side, it will be a chance to extend Nigeria’s unbeaten streak of five matches when they face the 2017 African Champions. Since losing to Algeria in a friendly game in 2020 – also in Austria- the three-time African champions have picked up draws with Tunisia, Sierra Leone, and wins against Benin Republic and Lesotho, qualifying for the 2021 AFCON finals in the process.

Who’s Talking?

Rohr is confident of an upset in Austria as he believes his team are well balanced to maintain their dominance over Cameroon. In their most recent meeting, Nigeria edged out Camerron in an entertaining clash at the 2019 AFCON Round of 16 stage in Egypt and the same is expected this evening.

“The players are well motivated. They want to do well. The training sessions have been good; they are happy to come together again.

“The last time we played was in March. We have two victories against Benin and Lesotho. Now we are in June, this is the last preparation for us. We have the AFCON draw at the end of June. Then in September, October and November, we have the World Cup qualifiers. This is the preparation before the World Cup which is very important.

“The players want to do well to be in the squad for the World Cup qualifiers,” the Franco-German told reporters.

Defender, William Troost-Ekong echoed his manager’s thoughts, as he believes his side are ready to face a revengeful opponent.

“They (Cameroon) would be a team that wants to get revenge aginst us because we knocked them out of the World Cup (2018 qualifiers) and at AFCON, we did the same thing. It is going to be a difficult game and the boys are ready to have a good fight and enjoy the game, show ourselves, see what we can do and make sure we finish the season on a high,” he said.

Players in Camp

Rohr has invited 21 players for the showdown in Austria for both legs (with both teams clashing again at the same stadium next Tuesday). There are new faces in the camp, as the likes of Terem Moffi (Kortrijk, Belgium), Abraham Marcus (CD Feirense, Portugal) and Valentine Ozornwafor (Galatasaray, Turkey) have earned their first Eagles’ call-ups and could make their debuts in one of both legs against Toni Conceicao’s men and also in the game against Mexico.

Rohr has a crop of talented players to choose from in the coming games.

Goalkeepers: Maduka Okoye, Francis Uzoho, John Noble

Defenders: William Troost-Ekong, Valentine Ozornwafor, CHidozie Awaziem, Anthony Izuchukwu, Jamilu Collins

Midfielders: Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Abdullahi Shehu, Abraham Marcus, Samson Tijani

Forwards: Ahmed Musa, Paul Onuachu, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, Anayo Iwuala, Terem Moffi, Peter Olayinka

Enemy’s Camp

The Indomitable Lions will miss four key players for this evening’s clash, with winger, Christian Bassogog, Jean Onana, Olivier Mbaizo and goalkeeper, Fabrice Ondoa all missing out on injuries.