{"id":853968,"date":"2025-06-07T17:12:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T22:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/07\/russia-coach-karpin-ranks-nigerias-super-eagles-above-kenya-and-zambia-after-friendly-draw\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T17:12:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T22:12:43","slug":"russia-coach-karpin-ranks-nigerias-super-eagles-above-kenya-and-zambia-after-friendly-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/07\/russia-coach-karpin-ranks-nigerias-super-eagles-above-kenya-and-zambia-after-friendly-draw\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia coach Karpin ranks Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles above Kenya and Zambia after friendly draw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Russia\u2019s head coach, Valery Karpin, has hailed Nigeria&#8217;s Super Eagles as a superior side compared to Zambia and Kenya following their thrilling 1-1 international friendly in Moscow on Friday night, <a href=\"https:\/\/Soccernet.ng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The match, played at the iconic Luzhniki Stadium, drew record-breaking attendance and marked the first-ever senior international meeting between Russia and Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>The fixture also brought an end to Russia\u2019s eight-game winning streak, which had included a dominant 5-0 victory over Zambia in March 2025.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164101\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164101\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GsyEtqrXEAAH9Fc-750x501.jpeg\" alt width=\"750\" height=\"501\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164101\">Nigeria Super Eagles vs Russia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Karpin, <a href=\"https:\/\/rfs.ru\/news\/222540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">speaking after the game<\/a>, admitted that Nigeria posed a greater challenge than several other African nations his team had recently faced \u2014 including Kenya and Zambia \u2014 whom Russia played and beat in late 2023.<\/p>\n<h3>What Karpin said of the Super Eagles\u00a0<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThey (African teams) are all very athletic, powerful, strong teams,\u201d Karpin said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCameroon and Nigeria are significantly higher in level than Zambia and Kenya. Even the FIFA rating confirms this. They cannot be compared. Nigeria and Cameroon are more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164100\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164100\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GsyEtr6XkAAvhs8-750x502.jpeg\" alt=\"Soccer Nigeria Super Eagles star Raphael Onyedika vs Russia \" width=\"750\" height=\"502\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164100\">Nigeria Super Eagles star Raphael Onyedika vs Russia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>READ MORE<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/russia-vs-nigeria-boniface-arokodare-super-eagles.html\">Russia vs Nigeria: What Boniface said to Arokodare after first Super Eagles goal<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/chelle-super-eagles-russia.html\">We didn\u2019t play well\u201d \u2013 Everything Chelle said after Super Eagles vs Russia clash<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/nigerias-super-eagles-russias.html\">Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles shatter Russia\u2019s six-year attendance record<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Despite the result, the Russian coach was pleased with his team&#8217;s performance against a side he clearly respects, noting that Nigeria created few clear-cut chances during the game.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely everything: from the pressing to\u2026 I can&#8217;t remember a single moment, except for the mistake during the throw-in. Do you remember? Maybe I just forgot,\u201d Karpin said when asked what stood out positively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn&#8217;t create threats for us, but we created moments. Melehin&#8217;s \u2013 after a free kick, Barinov&#8217;s \u2013 after coming out of defense. The goal we conceded can hardly be called created by Nigeria \u2014 there wasn&#8217;t even any pressing there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164099\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164099\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GsyEtqoXsAAWasx-750x501.jpeg\" alt=\"Soccer Luzhniki Stadium: Nigeria vs Russia\" width=\"750\" height=\"501\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164099\">Luzhniki Stadium: Nigeria vs Russia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Russia had previously beaten Cameroon 1-0 in October 2023 before drawing 2-2 with Kenya later that month, a result that started their winning momentum until Nigeria once again disrupted their run.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Soccer Imhonlamhen Eronmhonsele\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/DSC_0327-copy-150x150.jpg\"  height=\"80\" width=\"80\">\t\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/author\/imhonlamhen-eronmhonsele\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tImhonlamhen Eronmhonsele\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tImhonlamhen Eronmhonsele turns into a ball of passion when writing about Nigerian football and its talents, whether rising stars or established legends, locally and abroad.<\/p>\n<p>From the deepest corners of the Middle East, to the green fields of the Americas, to the celebrated grounds in Europe, and the rich soils of Africa, Imhons is more than glad, usually with a glass of a tasty drink nearby, to capture the essence of the game, by connecting the dots between culture, identity, and football.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/russia-karpin-nigerias-super-eagles.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Imhonlamhen Eronmhonsele<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Russia\u2019s head coach, Valery Karpin, has hailed Nigeria&#8217;s Super Eagles as a superior side compared to Zambia and Kenya following their thrilling 1-1 international friendly in Moscow on Friday night, Soccernet.ng reports. The match, played at the iconic Luzhniki Stadium, drew record-breaking attendance and marked the first-ever senior international meeting between Russia and Nigeria. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":853969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3563,1768,2005],"tags":[7346,6806],"class_list":{"0":"post-853968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-coach","8":"category-russia","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-coach","11":"tag-russia"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}