Nigeria had to come from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Scotland in London in a match which is subject to a match-fixing investigation on Wednesday.
The build-up to the game between the Africa Cup of Nations champion and the improving Scotland had been overshadowed by reports that Britain’s serious crime squad had launched a match-fixing investigation.
The National Crime Agency, which investigates serious and organised crime, is said to have asked world football’s governing body FIFA to issue an alert over attempts to influence the game at Fulham’s stadium Craven Cottage.
The NCA is said to have told FIFA it has general information from Asian betting markets suggesting there had been attempts to rig the friendly and they hoped to stop any suspect activities by issuing the alert.
On the pitch Scotland made the perfect start as Charlie Mulgrew opened the scoring after 10 minutes before Michael Uchebo equalised with four minutes left of the first half.
Scotland came out with plenty of fight after the break and Nigerian goalkeeper Azubuike Egwuekwe turned in James Morrison’s cross in the 52nd minute to put the Scots back into the lead.
But super-sub Uche Nwofor converted an equaliser in stoppage time of a game in which Nigeria had looked second best throughout.
Fitting farewell Meanwhile, Mexico defeated Israel 3-0 in a warm-up game that doubled as a farewell for iconic forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
The nearly packed 105,000-capacity Azteca Stadium in Mexico City erupted in cheers every time Blanco, 41, touched the ball during his 38 minutes on the pitch.
Mexico manager Miguel Herrera had originally planned to let Blanco play 20 minutes. But he gave fans more time with their idol before replacing him with young striker Raul Jimenez.
Blanco, who scored 39 goals for Mexico, including three in three World Cups, was given a standing ovation at half-time as he took a victory lap.
Two of Mexico’s goals were courtesy of wingback Miguel Layun, with some help from Israeli goalkeeper Ariel Harush, who failed to punch out the first one and saw the ball float into the net after touching the ball on the second one.
Marco Fabian made it 3-0 with a shot at the edge of the penalty area in the 85th minute.
At London: Nigeria 2 (Uchebo 41, Nwofor 90) drew with Scotland 2 (Mulgrew 10, Eguwekwe 52-og).
At Mexico City: Mexico 3 (Miguel Layun 42, 62, Marco Fabian 85) bt Israel 0.
Published - May 30, 2014 03:45 am IST
