Eric Chelle's near-impeccable record as Nigeria coach continued on Wednesday, as his Super Eagles were held to a 2-2 draw by Poland after surrendering the lead against the hosts twice.
Terem Moffi and Paul Onuachu scored either side of the break and the Super Eagles looked to be on their way to victory, but found themselves pegged back with seconds left of both halves as Poland came from behind to tie.
The result ensured that the Super Eagles extended their run of unbeaten games under Chelle to 12 matches.
Chelle has made it clear that he wants his team to play with energy, and that was exactly what the Super Eagles did in front of 54,000 spectators inside the 58,000-capacity Stadion PGE Narodowy cauldron.
They played without fear, and stood up physically to their hosts. It came as no surprise when Moffi sidefooted them in front after 23 minutes from a Moses Simon cross.
Initially called ruled out for offside on Simon, a VAR check showed that the Paris FC forward was marginally onside when he received the pass from captain Ndidi, and the goal was allowed.
Kacper Potulski erased that lead in first-half added time from a corner kick. But the Super Eagles returned in the second half, again aided by VAR, which called the referee's attention to a deliberate handball offence in the box.
Substitute Onuachu stepped up and buried the ball beyond Kamil Grabara.
Nigeria created opportunities aplenty. Zaidu Sanusi's crisp shot was punched away by Grabara. Tochukwu Nnadi was also foiled by the Polish goalkeeper, and Onyedika skied a great opportunity before the home side earned themselves a draw at the end.
Next up for the Super Eagles is Portugal in Leiria on Wednesday in another friendly. The encounter will be Portugal's final test before they head to this year's FIFA World Cup finals.
Here's what we took away from Nigeria's draw with Poland.
Super Eagles show strength in depth
Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Ola Aina were all unavailable.
Paul Onuachu, Raphael Onyedika, Calvin Bassey and Semi Ajayi all started from the bench, as Chelle went with only three of the players who started in the Unity Cup final against Jamaica - Moffi, Igoh Ogbu, Terem Moffi and Tochukwu Nnadi.
At the same time, he handed a debut to 21-year-old right back Abdullahi Bewene of Banik Ostrava.
Held together by the spine of captain Wilfred Ndidi, along with goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, defender Bruno Onyemaechi, midfielder Frank Onyeka and Simon, the team was not cohesive in the first half, especially at the back where communication between Emmanuel Fernandez and Ogbu was strained. But they held their own against a strong Poland team led by captain Robert Lewandowski.
Three different teams in two weeks, international debuts for 13 players - 12 of those at the Unity Cup - and other players with minimal international experience resulting in two wins and one draw is an impressive return for a coach.
Benjamin Fredricks was the revelation of last year's Unity Cup. This year, Femi Azeez has stepped up along with Arthur Okonkwo. Moffi and Alhassan Yusuf are enjoying career rejuvenating performances and Bewene was eye-catching against Poland.
At centreback, Fernandez, Nwaiwu and Ogbu are showing promise. In midfield, Tochukwu Nnadi might give the established stars cause to worry about their spots.
Against Poland, Bewene shone. Fernandez showed improvement and Nnadi grew in stature. Chelle appears to be building a team that could end up being at least three to four rich in squad depth. Osimhen, for now, may just about be the only untouchable in the team, but how long will that last?
Goalkeeping battle continues
Whether it was watching Okonkwo make a statement during the Unity Cup, or just plain change in attitude, it does not matter. What does matter is that Okoye was outstanding against Poland.
His read on the play was excellent, his handling was sure and strong, his distribution was precise and his close-range stops were magnificent, including a double save with 10 minutes of play left to deny Lewandowski.
There are those who will argue that he could have done a better job of moving his legs to save the strike from Przemyslaw Wiśniewski with the last kick of the game, but that is debatable. What is not, is that the players in front of him let him down by not closing down the player and giving him all that time and space to shoot.
Overall, Okoye had one of his best games for Nigeria, making a strong case for winning the job permanently after Okonkwo's Unity Cup heroics. Francis Uzoho has not even had a chance to play yet. And let us not forget that Stanley Nwabali is still waiting in the wings. The moment he finds himself at a club and starts playing again, that dynamic changes.
From having a goalkeeping crisis, the Super Eagles now appear to find themselves with four top goalies at the same time, and a battle for number one, well and truly on. This should be fun.
Set piece defending must improve
Of all the good things that Chelle's Super Eagles did on the day, the worst was defending setpieces.
Poland's first goal came from a poorly defended cornerkick, with defenders wandering and leaving Potulski open to volley home from close range. The situation did not improve by much in the second half and Chelle would have been disappointed watching from the sidelines.
Okoye's double save came from a similar situation. The Nigeria defence failed to deal with a ball floated in the box and the Polish captain was allowed not one, but two attempts inside the goal area.
If the Super Eagles are to make significant progress, this will need addressing.
Costly late goal
Clawing a draw from the jaws of defeat against Zimbabwe at home is a major part of what cost the Super Eagles a World Cup place. This lapse in concentration was agai.n evident against Poland. With the game petering to a close, Chelle had his team sit deep as they tried to hold on to a fragile lead.
But with seconds left to play, Onuachu, Ndidi and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru failed to close down Wiśniewski, allowing the defender to unleash a ferocious, swerving effort from 25 yards.
While the decision to sit back was not entirely wrong, the issue centres around Chelle's decision to exhaust all his substitutions early, which meant that once Ndidi picked up a knock, he was forced to see out the game without the ability to be subbed off. Usually, the captain would have stepped in to challenge the shooter,but appeared unable to do so.
