Eagles lose 0-1 to Czech Republic in Austria
Super Eagles on Wednesday in Austria lost by a lone goal to Czech Republic in their last friendly match ahead of the World cup in Russia. Eagles who had earlier lost 2-1 to England at the Wembley had hoped to post a spirit lifting performance against the Czechs but that failed to come to pass.
Both teams had played a very cautions game in the first half devoid of any impressive run. It was however the Czechs who intermittently showed signs of hunger to earn a victory.
The team mounted pressure harvesting as many as eight corners kicks in the first half one of which was converted in the 25th minute thanks to Tomas Kalas. In comparison to the match against England where the Eagles failed to come to the party in the first half, the first half against Czech though not too impressive was better.
On resumption of second half the Eagles made some interesting moves equally earning over a dozen corner kicks none of which was converted.
Moses and Odion Ighalo had a couple of shots on goal that however failed to beat the Czech Republic goalkeeper Vaclik.
The match itself had to be suspended for at least 10 minutes after the 59th minute following heavy down pour.
Despite the dull nature of the match it provided opportunity for Wilfred Ndidi to return to action. Nigeria played a total of six friendly matches as part of the preparation for the World cup which kicks off June 14.
The matches were against Argentina, Serbia, Poland, Dr Congo, England and Czech Republic. The team won two of the matches against Argentina and Poland, drew against DR Congo and lost to Serbia, England and Czech Republic.