Russia have just given themselves a difficult act to follow, but the Super Eagles may arrive in Nizhny Novgorod with a team that looks nothing like the Nigeria side recently beaten in Bissau, Footynaija.com reports.
Valery Karpin’s side opened their October programme with a 2-0 victory over Iran in Kazan, with Aleksandr Golovin scoring twice in the first half. Russia controlled the game without needing a high-scoring finish and showed why the Super Eagles will have to take the friendly seriously.
The problem for Karpin is that Nigeria are not the only team treating this window as an opportunity to look at different players. Russia have Namibia before Nigeria, while Eric Chelle selected a separate 24-man squad for the October 6 meeting.
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That means the Super Eagles who face Russia will not be the same group that suffered the 3-0 AFCON 2027 qualifying defeat to Guinea-Bissau on September 29. Wilfred Ndidi, Stanley Nwabali, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Raphael Onyedika and Akor Adams are among those retained, but several less-established players have also been brought into the squad.
Russia legend sees another difficult night
That changing picture has not made the Russian camp any more relaxed about Nigeria.
Former Cameroon coach Valery Nepomnyashchy watched Russia beat Iran and believes the next assignment could be harder, particularly with Karpin expected to make serious changes to his starting lineup.
“It won’t be easy for us. I think we’ll have some major changes in our lineup. It might be even tougher for the Russian team than against Iran,” Nepomnyashchy told Euro-Football, as revealed in a report by Soccernet.ng.
Russia’s strongest performance of the window has come before the match against Nigeria. Golovin was the difference against Iran, while goalkeeper Matvey Safonov and many Russia regular players started that game.
For Nigeria, the friendly gives coach Eric Chelle a chance to look beyond the players who carried the AFCON qualifying campaign and assess names such as Michael Atata, Samuel James, Victory Akpe and several other less-established internationals.
