The CHAN Eagles defeated 1-0 Cote d’Ivoire in a pre- African Nations Championship friendly played at the Tuks Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa on Monday.
A cool finish from Ifeanyi Mathew on the stroke of half time gave the Super Eagles the much needed victory to boost the team’s confidence going into the championship.
The keenly contested game also saw fit-again Tunde Adeniji handed a starter’s shirt.
Sunday Oliseh’s men had earlier been forced to a 1-1 draw by Angola last week as the team test run strategies towards a better outing at the 2016 CHAN which begins on Saturday.
The Nigeria delegation is expected to arrive in Kigali on January 15 – three days to the Eagles’ first match Niger Republic billed for the Stade Régional Nyamirambo before tackling Tunisia and Guinea in Group C.
Cote d’Ivoire on their own part are pooled in Group A against hosts Rwanda, Gabon and Morocco. They face the Wasps in their first game at the Amahoro Stadium on Saturday.
Oliseh’s men are bidding to emerge as African champions having palced third in their debut outing in South Africa – where Ejike Uzoenyi was named as tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
