Joe Aribo scored again as Nigeria held Brazil to a 1-1 draw at the Singapore National Stadium.

The Glasgow Rangers midfielder scored in the 35th minute, latching unto a pass from Moses Simon in the box and skipping past a yellow shirt to score his second international goal in his second senior appearance for Nigeria.

Few months ago, many Nigerians knew little or nothing about Joe Aribo. He has scored his way to their hearts, dorning the #10 jersey. He is here to stay. His confidence on the ball and in scoring positions will make him a regular for the Super Eagles.

The Super Eagles conceded in 48th minute after Casemiro reacted quickest to a rebound from the framework. After then, the Eagles were on the back foot with various attacks from the Samba Boys.

The Brazilians had top players like Neymar (PSG), Gabriel Jesus (Man City), Firmino (Liverpool), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Arthur (Barcelona), Dani Alves, Thiago (PSG) and Ederson (Man City) but the Nigerians held on. Neymar left within the first 15 minutes of the game, injured and was replaced by Coutinho (Bayern).

It was a good game for Nigeria. Francis Uzoho showed why he should have been the number 1 goalie at the 2019 AFCON. His injury in the 61st minute paved way for Maduka Okoye to make his debut.

Peter Olayinka also made his debut while Dennis Bonaventure featured after his two Champions League goals at the Bernabeu. Paul Onuachu come on for Victor Osimhen in the last 20 minutes but didn’t impress. It was his first game for the Super Eagles since a 5 minutes cameo in Nigeria’s 3-2 win over Cameroon at the 2019 AFCON. Ramon Azeez and Shehu Abdullahi also made cameo returns.

The Super Eagles would now shift attention to the Africa Nations Championship qualifier return leg against Togo by the home based team on Thursday before a November date with Benin and Lesotho in the AFCON qualifier. Recall that the home based side lost 4-1 to Togo in the first leg. Can they turn this around?

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