The senior national teams of Cameroon and Nigeria on Tuesday, June 8, played for the second time in less than a week and it ended in a disappointing draw especially for Nigerian
football lovers who were left with more questions than answers as the team prepares for AFCON 2021 and FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifications.The match
ended goalless despite Cameroon's dominance for almost 80 minutes of play. The
Cameroonians somehow did not manage to win this game while the Nigerian team
looked bereft of ideas and couldn't work as a collective unit.
The game
played in Austria against Toni Conceicao's side at Stadion Wiener Neustadt saw
Maduka Okoye retain his place in goal while Super Eagles captain and Kano
Pillars winger Ahmed Musa returned to the starting line-up.
In form
Galatasaray defender Valentine Ozornwafor also led the defence, while Leicester
City forward Kelechi Iheanacho and Genk forward Paul Onuachu led the attack.
Following
their 1-0 defeat to the Indomitable Lions last week Gernot Rohr named a strong
squad for the encounter to avoid another loss.
Meanwhile
Cameroon coach Toni Conceicao, started Bayern Munich centre-forward Eric Maxim
Choupo-Moting in attack, Devis Epassy in goal, while Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa
who scored in the first leg against Nigeria had to be on the bench.
In the early
minutes of the game, both sides tried to out manoeuvre each other with Cameroon
coming out as the stronger side, dominating most of the first half.
Goalkeeper
Okoye had to be in too form to deny Cameroon from scoring.
Seeing that
his line-up was not working coach Rohr replaced Onuachu with Terem Moffi in the
46th minute while.
Cameroon's
Stephane Bahoken replaced Choupo-Moting.
Pierre Kunde
was then replaced by Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, who scored the only goal in
the first outing.
The Super
Eagles still couldn't create any clear cut chances and had to wait till the
last ten minutes when the Cameroonians were clearly tired, for them to make
meaningful forays in attack, at the end the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
The Super
Eagles will next take on Mexico in another international friendly scheduled for
July 4 as they prepare for the World Cup qualifiers against Liberia and Cape
Verde Islands in August and September, respectively.
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