Nigeria defeats Egypt in friendly match

The Super Eagles of Nigeria gave a good performance on Tuesday night as they battled to a lone goal victory over the Pharaohs of Egypt in an international friendly played at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba.

Paul Onuachu, who was starting his first game for the national team after he came on as a substitute in the game against Seychelles, scored the only goal of the game in the first minute as Nigeria finally got a win over the North Africans for the first time since 1990 at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Pharaohs’ boss Javier Aguirre left a number of key players out of the March games, including Mohamed Salah, Ahmed Hegazi, Elmohamady, and many more.

Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny captained the Pharaohs from the middle of the park.

It took Nigeria only seven seconds to open the scoreline after a defensive blunder from Ahmed Fetouh which allowed Onuachu to drive into the box, before firing into the top corner.

That happened to be the only goal of the game as the two teams huffed and puffed with no more goals to show for their effort.

In the 83rd minute, Islam Gaber came so close to equalising when his long-range effort hit Ikechukwu Ezenwa’s crossbar, before the rebound by Kouka was saved by the goalkeeper.

Egypt enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the last 15 minutes and created a number of chances, but failed to make them count, and eventually, Nigeria held on for a deserved 1-0 victory.

Speaking after the match, Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr said the victory against the Egyptians was great.

“This is not a good match, it is a great one, beating a team like Egypt is never easy so I am happy,” the elated Nigeria coach stated.

On his part, the Egyptian National team coach, Javier Aguirre, said he was happy with the test the Super Eagles gave to his boys.