Friendly: Nigeria settle for 2-2 draw with Ukraine

Victor Osimhen

Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Tuesday night surrendered their first half two-goal lead to settle for a 2-2 draw with Ukraine in a friendly played at the Dnipro Arena, Ukraine.

One of the newcomers, Glasgow Rangers’ Joe Ayodele-Aribo opened scoring for the Eagles in the fourth minute off an assist from Alex Iwobi, while Victor Osimhen made it two in the 34th minute when he scored from the spot.

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The Gernot Rohr men succumbed to pressure in the second half as the Andriy Shevchenko’s men scored in succession Oleksandr Zinchenko [78th minute] and Roman Yaremchuk [79th minute to end the game with a fair result.

Meanwhile, former international, Dosu Joseph has called on Nigeria fans not to judge Super Eagles newly-invited Joe Aribo, Maduka Okoye, Josh Maja, and Dennis Okoye on their performances against Ukraine.

The former Super Eagles goalkeeper and Atlanta ’96 Olympic gold medallist has called for patience with the newly-invited players.

“It has become a norm in our football that when new players are invited to the Super Eagles, we always expect them to deliver as soon as possible,” Joseph said as reported by The Scottish Sun.

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“I really don’t think that is very easy considering the fact that many of them may not really impress in their first game.

“These are things we have seen in the past and I think that has to change. I wouldn’t want Nigerians to judge some of the newly-invited players by the friendly against Ukraine.”