Gernot Rohr’s depleted Super Eagles suffer narrow loss to Cameroon

The two former African champions clashed in Austria in an international friendly match with the Indomitable Lions claiming the bragging rights

Midfielder Zambo Anguissa’s first-half strike was all Cameroon needed to triumph 1-0 over the Super Eagles in the first game of their back-to-back friendlies at the Weiner Neustadt Stadium in Austria on Friday.

Injuries and withdrawals meant head coach Gernot Rohr could not count on his regular hatchet men, including Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Rangers’ duo of Leon Balogun and Joe Aribo.

Still, the Super Eagles starting eleven had Belgium Pro League player of the year Paul Onuachu and English FA Cup winners Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho.

That quality showed in the early stages as only individual errors presented Moses Simon, Onuachu, and Iheanacho from opening the scoring for the 2013 Afcon winners.

And Cameroon made the Eagles pay for those missed chances when Zambo Anguissa arrived in the box to direct his effort past goalkeeper Maduka Okoye eight minutes before the interval.

Again Iheanacho, Simon, and Onuachu were wasteful after the break, and Rohr responded by sending in Ahmed Musa in place of the Genk forward. The German tactician also handed Terem Moffi his international debut, with the Lorient target man coming on for Onuachu.

And despite the late introduction of Enyimba’s Anayo Iwuala, Nigeria could not break down the defensive setup of the Cameroonians, who record their first victory over their West African neighbours in more than a decade.