Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Friday demonstrated their intention to impress at the 2018 FIFA World Cup by defeating Poland 1-0 at the Stadion Miejski, Wroclaw.
Victor Moses’ 61st minute penalty kick made the difference as the Eagles fought hard to earn a win over world number eight Poland.
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr had a couple of difficult calls to make. In between the sticks he went for Francis Uzoho, Joel Obi was given his first Super Eagles cap since his last outing in a friendly against Scotland in May 2014.
The Torino of Italy midfielder partnered Wilfried Ndidi in the middle of the pack, while Brian Idowu was also chosen ahead of Elderson Echiejile at left-back.
With the morale-boosting win, the Super Eagles will now take on Serbia on Tuesday in London to consolidate their fine form en route the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Meanwhile, Argentina and Portugal both secured victories in their respective games against Italy and Egypt on Friday night.
While Argentina even without Lionel Messi beat the Azzurri 2-0, Portugal had to rely on the ingenuity of Cristiano Ronaldo to overcome Egypt 2-1.
Ronaldo popped up with two late goals to break the heart of the Pharaohs who were already hoping for a famous win having been shot ahead by Mohamed Salah.
Elsewhere, England showed character to beat The Netherlands 1-0 away from home with Jesse Lingard getting the only goal for the Three Lions.
France also suffered a shock home defeat; losing 2-3 to Colombia.
For the other African teams heading to the World Cup, Senegal played out an uninspiring 1-1 draw against Uzbekistan.
At the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino (Torino), Serbia were beaten 2-1 by Morocco while Tunisia pipped Iran 1-0.
Also on Friday, reigning world Champions Germany and Spain settled for a 1-1 draw at the Esprit arena (Düsseldorf)
Some other Friday results (International Friendly)
Norway 4 – 1 Australia
Bulgaria 0 – 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Turkey 1 – 0 Ireland
Greece 0 – 1 Switzerland
Ukraine 1 – 1 Saudi Arabia
Austria 3 – 0 Slovenia
Scotland 0 – 1 Costa Rica