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Super Eagles Kick Off World Cup Preparation With A Draw Against Scotland

The Super Eagles of Nigeria began their World Cup preparations with a 2-2 draw with Scotland at Craven Cottage on Wednesday.

The African champions were in London before they left the country to begin their preparations for the World Cup, and Scotland are rebuilding for their European Championship campaign.

Scotland took the lead in the match when a quick corner came to James Morrison, who drove a low shot into the box for Charlie Mulgrew to cleverly flick over the goalkeeper Austin Ejide.

There were few chances for either side in an uneventful half, but Nigeria equalised just before half-time when Michael Uchebo picked up the ball outside the box, drove towards goal and had his shot deflected away from the Allan McGregor and into the net.

In the second half, Scotland regained the lead shortly after the restart, when Azubuike Egwueke turned in Alan Hutton’s low cross.

From that moment, the rhythm of the game was disrupted with regular substitutions, meaning that no side could put together any fluid moves but Nigeria managed a dramatic equaliser when a goal mouth scramble allowed Uche Nwofor to drill in an equaliser from a tight angle.

Meanwhile, the build-up to the game was overshadowed by rumours of investigations into match-fixing, but no concrete details had come to light.

Poor Austin Ejide throws ball into own net, and conspiracy theorists a bone: It may have been under the pressure of Scotland’s attackers that he simply fumbled, but after all the rumours of match-fixing it certainly came at an awful moment for the ‘keeper. Luckily, the referee disallowed the goal.