Super Eagles Seek to Sustain Winning Mentality against Russia

Olawale Ajimotokan 

As Nigeria take on Russia this evening in an international friendly, the Super Eagles will seek to maintain their unbeaten run in all competitions since the beginning of this year.

The match will take place inside the 78,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium in 

Moscow on Friday night.

It is the first official meeting for both countries at senior level, and 

though Russia have not played competitively since February 2022, they 

have been busy playing friendly games, the last one being a 5-0 routing 

of Zambia’s Chipolopolo at the VTB Arena in Moscow on 25th March. The 

win took their winning streak to eight games.

Nigeria defeated Rwanda 2-0 in Kigali in a FIFA World Cup qualifying 

match on 21st March, were held to a 1-1 draw at home four days later by 

Zimbabwe in the same series, and then defeated Ghana 2-1 on 28th May 

before overpowering Jamaica on penalties after a 2-2 draw on 31st May to 

win the Unity Cup tournament in London.

While still in the form of that single and mammoth USSR, the Soviet 

Union hosted the FIFA World Youth Championship (now FIFA U20 World Cup) 

in 1985. The host nation defeated Nigeria 2-1 in a group phase match in 

Minsk, but when both teams clashed in the tournament’s third-place 

match, Nigeria triumphed 3-1 after a penalty shootout following 0-0 in 

regulation and extra time in Moscow.

On Friday, Franco-Malian Eric Chelle will put out a squad that will 

be determined to earn a critical win for Nigeria, in order to sustain 

the winning mentality built from the Unity Cup tournament, and also set 

their eyes confidently on an even more critical couple of 2026 FIFA 

World Cup qualifying matches coming up in September.

The Super Eagles, lying fourth in their group, will host Rwanda’s 

Amavubi in the first week of September, and fly out to Johannesburg four 

days later to tackle group leaders Bafana Bafana of South Africa in what 

could be a flaming war.

Injuries and withdrawals have combined to tweak Chelle’s ensemble for 

this encounter, but the spine of the squad is largely intact, with only 

the fore missing telling performers, such as reigning African Player of 

the Year Ademola Lookman, the peerless Victor Osimhen and AC Milan of 

Italy’s Samuel Chukwueze – who was in imperious form in London.

Goalkeeper Maduka Okoye has another opportunity to reign between the 

sticks, with Igoh Ogbu and Benjamin Fredericks (from the Unity Cup in 

London) tugging for the rearguard shirts with captain William Ekong, 

Bright Osayi-Samuel, Bruno Onyemaechi and Semi Ajayi.

A rich midfield cast includes Frank Onyeka, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Raphael 

Onyedika, Christantus Uche, Papa Daniel and Saviour Isaac.

Much will be expected of Simon Moses and Tolu Arokodare in the attack, 

as Krasnodar FC’s former junior international Olakunle Olusegun hopes 

fervently for his first senior cap.

The iconic Luzhniki Stadium hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final, in 

which France defeated Croatia 4-2. 

During the competition, Russia defeated Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the group phase, and also eliminated Spain  4-3 after penalty shootout in the Round of 16, at the same Luzhniki Stadium.