Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr, has praised DR Congo after they held his side to a 1-1 draw in an international friendly at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt earlier this week.
The German tactician said the pitch was a difficult one for both teams and explained why he opted to field an experimental line-up which didn’t feature regulars such as John Obi Mikel and Odion Ighalo, but did see debuts for Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo and Junior Lokosa
“We played against a very good team from Democratic Republic of Congo, they are a very, very good squad,” Rohr is quoted by Allnigeriasoccer.
“We had to see some players who didn’t play so much, two of them played their first game today.
“It was not easy, the pitch was not easy to play but it was for the two teams. We didn’t want to take risks to play with some of players who are tired coming from China.”
Nigeria’s goal was scored by defender William Troost-Ekong, his first at senior international level.
“We scored a wonderful goal and could have scored a second one and in the end there was a penalty,” added Rohr.
“We didn’t win the match but it was a very interesting test for everybody, especially for some players we didn’t know so well.”
Nigeria will play their second World Cup warm-up match this coming Saturday when they face hosts and fellow qualifiers England at Wembley Stadium.
