After battling the Super Eagles to a 2-2 draw in an international friendly at the 58,000-capacity Stadion PGE Narodowy in Warsaw, Poland head coach Jan Urban said he was pleased with his team’s display, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Super Eagles looked set for victory after taking the lead on two occasions, but Poland fought back each time in an entertaining contest between the two nations.
Nigeria struck first in the 25th minute when Terem Moffi finished a move created by Moses Simon. Poland responded just before the interval as Kacper Potulski headed home from Nicola Zalewski’s cross in first-half stoppage time.
Eric Chelle’s side – which had debutant Abdullahi Bewene – made seven substitutions at the break and regained the advantage in the 77th minute when substitute Paul Onuachu converted from the penalty spot. However, Poland refused to give up and Przemyslaw Wiśniewski smashed home an equaliser in the 95th minute to ensure the match ended level.
Despite failing to secure victory, Urban felt his players deserved praise for their performance against a strong Nigerian side.
“The scenario from the previous matches repeated itself – we played, the opponent scored. But I wasn’t concerned because we played well,” Urban said after the game as per Laczynaspilka.
“And we played well after the goal. It was a good match against a good team. That goal could have been easily prevented. Up until that point, only Kamil Grabara’s clearance created a dangerous situation.”
Urban explains Poland’s response vs Super Eagles
Urban admitted he was frustrated by how easily Nigeria converted their chances but insisted the overall display gave him plenty of encouragement ahead of future competitive fixtures.
“I know how everyone should react in this situation. Never mind the names. The worst thing is that the opponent doesn’t create countless chances and takes only two or three. They’re very cruel to us. But these are friendly matches; they won’t judge us for them,” he said.
“Today was a really good match. I didn’t feel helpless, looking at the players who had the entire season in their stride during this training camp. I would have behaved the same way after the entire season. I know this from experience.”
Urban also revealed that tactical adjustments helped Poland gain momentum in the second half after Nigeria’s changes altered the rhythm of the match.
“We were partly playing for the result. But I also saw that we were playing well. We were creating chances, we were close to scoring.
“If things had gone differently, we had prepared to change to a four-man defence from the start of the second half. Bartek Slisz’s positioning and disposition helped us secure the backline. He played an excellent game. Later, we wanted to chase the result, so we changed to a four-man defence.”
The Poland coach ended by looking ahead to the UEFA Nations League campaign, adding:
“No one will have time for experiments. We’ll take the Nations League seriously; I can’t imagine it any other way.”
Nigeria will conclude their summer tour of Europe with another international friendly against Portugal on June 10.