Super Eagles ended their preparations for the upcoming CAF African cup of Nations qualifiers with a 1-1 draw against Tunisia on Tuesday night.
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr made few changes from the team that started the last game against Algeria, with Captain Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Iheanacho among the notable names that came back into the starting 11.
Kenneth Omeruo also made a return to the defense and Moses Simon took the place of Samuel Kalu, while Kevin Akpoguma started in the place of Tyronne Ebuehi.
The Super Eagles started the game brightly as the first chance of the encounter fell to Kelechi Iheanacho, but he dragged his efforts wide.
Samuel Chukwueze and Zaidu Sanusi also had a sight at the Tunisian goal, before Iheanacho fired the opener past goalkeeper Ben Mustapha Farouk to put Nigeria in the lead in the 21st minutes.
The Super Eagles had a golden opportunity to make it after the referee penalized the Tunisians for bringing down Ahmed Musa in the box, Iheanacho however failed to convert from the six yards.
The Leicester forward who missed the opportunity to net his 10th international goal saw his weak penalty saved by Tunisian goalkeeper Farouk.
The Carthage Eagles later grew into the game and should have equalized, but Okoye made a superb saved from Turkish based Khazri.
The Tunisians finally level the scores, as Hamza Rafia ghosted past Omeruo on the line and gifted Drajer to hammer into the net for Tunisia’s equalizer.
The second half was no less interesting. Iheanacho again was at the heart of everything for Nigeria as he rose to meet the ball from a corner but his header went narrowly over.
Both teams showed grit and intention, with some eye-catching touches, good marking, adroit use of space, and some individual brilliance.
The Carthage Eagles came quite close to nicking the game but Maduka Okoye was alert enough to tip over the bar a tricky lob by Naim Sliti.
The game ended in a draw, and Next up for the Super Eagles is AFCON qualifying fixtures against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone, between 9th and 17th November.
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