The Super Eagles of Nigeria came up against the Samba Boys of Brazil at the National Stadium in Singapore on Sunday Afternoon. This was not a clash of Titans as the distance between the two sides in FIFA ranking will attest to, but it was a match between two dominant sides in their respective continents.

It was a tight affair with both teams having a share of the spoils after 90minutes. The most notable event of the match was Brazil's star player, Neymar walking off injured midway through the first half. Here are four other things we noticed in the match between Brazil and Nigeria.







Aribo Could Be Mikel's True Heir: After Mikel Obi called time on his international career, Super Eagles gaffer Gernot Rohr brought in Joe Aribo to take his place on the field and handed him the famed No. 10 jersey. If the choice of squad no was to act as inspiration, then it worked. The Rangers of Scotland midfielder has been a revelation for the National Team. He introduced himself to the international scene with a goal against Ukraine on his debut. He followed that up with another in Singapore, shimmying past tackles before sidefooting past Ederson to give the Africans the lead. He controls the midfield in a manner reminiscent of Mikel, too bad he wasn't able to come out with a win at his second time of asking.







Nigeria Has Defensive Solidity In Depth:  One of the achievements of Stephen Keshi was establising a solid central defensive pairing of Leon Balogun and William Troost-Ekong popularly known as the 'Oyinbo Wall'. Kenneth Omeruo has since picked up in form and displaced Leon Balogun, partnering Ekong formidably at both the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Nations Cup. He was unavailable for last weekend's clash so Semi Ajayi was brought in place and was outstanding, he and Ekong didn't put a foot wrong and repelled almost everything the Brazilians threw at them.

A return from injury  Omeruo will give Rohr a welcomed selection headache at the heart of the defence with Chidozie Awaziem another option although he has been filling in at right-back for the time being. 







Brazil Have Dropped A Notch: Things have not been going well for Brazil recently. Since claiming the Copa America title in the summer, Tite's men have been unable to claim a win. They have played 4, lost 1 and drawn the rest. The Brazilians gave an underpar showing against the Nigerians, they needed the help of a scrappy goal to claim a draw. With the galaxy of stars in the team, they are expected to be performing much better than they currently are. Hopefully Neymar and co. will find a way to turn things around by the next international break in November.







Goalkeeping Quagmire Could Be A Thing Of The Past: Since the premature retirement of Vincent Enyeama, Rohr has been unable to get a befitting replacement. He has tried and tested the likes of Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi and Francis Uzoho but each of them have been unable to impress. Uzoho though has been quite impressive in the last two games, he seems to have gained a little confidence and his reflexes seem to have improved. Rohr brought in new boy Maduka Okoye for the injured Uzoho in the second half and the latter gave a good account for himself. He stood tall against the Brazilians - who were looking to regain their pride with a winner - with a performance that belied his inexperience, one could be forgiven to doubt that he plies his trade in the fourth tier of German football.

If their form can continue in an upward parabola from here on out, then Gernot Rohr might just have gotten answers to Nigeria's goalkeeping situation.

SOURCE: https://zamfootball.com/2019/10/14/brazil-1-1-nigeria-what-we-learnt/