Veteran Russian coach Sergei Tashuyev has revealed that the young players in the Super Eagles squad were determined to prove their worth during Tuesday's international friendly at the Sovcombank Arena in Nizhny Novgorod.
The Super Eagles fought back from two goals down to earn a 3-3 draw with the 2018 World Cup hosts, with two teenagers playing a key role in the comeback.
After Peter Edokpolor came off the bench to halve the deficit in the 78th minute, another 19-year-old, Abdullahi Umar, provided a stoppage-time assist for Akor Adams to score the equaliser.
Kelechi Iheanacho had opened the scoring ten minutes into the contest, but goals from Lechi Sadulaev, Matvey Kislyak and Aleksey Miranchuk saw Russia take a 3-1 lead with just 12 minutes of normal time remaining.
Tashuyev noted that Russia were unable to cope with the Super Eagles' late onslaught, particularly from the young players making their debuts.
"The Russian national team played a good match against Nigeria. During this training camp, we saw clear signs of the national team's play—ball control, positional attacks," the former Krasnodar and Akhmat Grozny coach told Sport Express.
"We lacked concentration at the end. We seemed to be leading by two goals, but we couldn't contain the onslaught of the young Nigerians.
"They aren't often called up to the Nigerian national team, so they had something to prove."
Nigeria manager Eric Chelle handed debuts to nine promising players, including Samuel James, Isaac James, Stephen Michael, Wilfred Igor, Chibuzo Nwoko, Vince Osuji, Peter Edokpolor, Abdullahi Umar and Umar Abubakar.
Ifeanyi Emmanuel
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