Nigeria coach Eric Chelle expects the Super Eagles to play with intensity and go for victory against Russia on Tuesday despite a wave of withdrawals that has stripped the team of a host of experienced internationals, including captain Wilfred Ndidi.
Ndidi was ruled out after sustaining a knock during Nigeria's 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying loss against Guinea-Bissau. But he is not the only absentee. A statement from the Nigeria Football Federation said Raphael Onyedika, Bright Osayi-Samuel Ridwan Abdulrasaq Popoola and Moses Usor were also withheld by their clubs.
Usor, who scored on his debut for Nigeria against Madagascar in Uyo last month, was not originally listed for the trip. However, the NFF says when he was requested by Chelle to fill the gap left by players withdrawing, LASK FC told Usor he should not fly to Russia.
Basel defender Victory Akpe, who was a first time call-up, was ruled out through injury and Suleiman Mubarak was unable to travel because of a residency permit issue, leaving Chelle with 18 players and a group in which 13 are 22 years old or younger.
Beyond Moses Simon and a handful of established internationals such as Stanley Nwabali, the returning Kelechi Iheanacho and Akor Adams, Chelle will have to rely heavily on those youngsters.
Twelve of the 18 players are under 22, with 13 aged 22 or younger. Eight are 20 or younger and four are still teenagers, leaving the squad with an average age of approximately 22.3 years old. More importantly, it is a squad largely inexperienced in international football, with nine of those players uncapped and an additional three with fewer than two international appearances.
Chelle admitted that that was largely a product of circumstances rather than the original plan, although the original design for this game still leaned heavily in favour of youth, with the initial 24-player squad already containing a significant number of newcomers, including SJK goalkeeper Samuel James, Akpe and several uncapped midfielders and forwards. The likes of Ndidi, Nwabali, Onyedika and Osayi-Samuel were among the established internationals expected to provide experience around them before the situation changed.
"The clubs do not want to release the players, so we have to manage the situation" Chelle said. "This is why we brought some young players."
Shorn of the bulk of his experienced core, Chelle could field a side containing Brentford's 21-year-old defender Benjamin Fredrick, 20-year-old Fulham midfielder Chibuzo Nwoko, and teenagers Stephen Michael, Aderemi Adeoye and Peter Edokpolor.
The enforced reshuffle presents Chelle with an opportunity to assess players who could become part of the next Super Eagles cycle after Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Despite the setbacks, the coach said neither absences nor youth will change what he expects from his players against Russia after being unhappy with Nigeria's intensity in their defeat to Guinea-Bissau.
"This is not the same team," Chelle said. "The last game we lost that game because the intensity of our team was not good, the aggressivity too.
"So tomorrow, it will not be the same game. We play against a Russia team, they put a lot of intensity when they don't have the ball, a lot of aggressivity. So I can predict that we will have a lot of intensity in my team. At the end, I want to see a good game.
"My expectation for this game is to give them the opportunity to show what they can do. It is a big team, they are very motivated. Any time we play we want to win, so we try to give the best for this jersey and for Nigeria."
Simon has been left as the most senior figure in the squad following all the withdrawals. The Paris FC forward, who is expected to captain Nigeria and make his 102nd senior international appearance, echoed Chelle's expectations.
"We did not come here to lose," Simon said. "We cannot fly all these long hours to come here to lose. We came here to win."
There is a recent precedent for an understrength Nigeria side making use of a friendly against Russia. Chelle went into their meeting in June 2025 without several established players, including Ndidi, Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman. Nigeria fell behind at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium through Semi Ajayi's first-half own goal before substitute Tolu Arokodare capitalized on a mistake by goalkeeper Matvey Safonov to equalize in the 71st minute for his first international goal.
Tuesday's game will be Nigeria's sixth senior international on Russian soil but their first in Nizhny Novgorod. The first of those internationals came in November 2017, when Gernot Rohr's team came from two goals down to beat Argentina 4-2 in Krasnodar, with Kelechi Iheanacho scoring before Alex Iwobi struck twice and debutant Brian Idowu added another. Iheanacho and Simon are the only survivors from that game in the current squad.
Nigeria returned seven months later for the 2018 World Cup, losing 2-0 to Croatia in Kaliningrad, beating Iceland 2-0 in Volgograd and losing 2-1 to Argentina in St. Petersburg before their most recent visit which produced that 1-1 friendly draw in Moscow last year.
That gives Nigeria a record of two wins, one draw and two defeats from five senior internationals on Russian soil entering Tuesday's game.
Nigeria squad vs. Russia
Goalkeepers: Michael Atata (Ikorodu City); Samuel James (SJK FC, Finland); Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United, South Africa).
Defenders: Kenneth Igboke (Enugu Rangers); Isaac James (Alverca FC, Portugal); Benjamin Fredrick (Brentford FC, England); Emmanuel Fernandez (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Abdullahi Bewene (FC Banik Ostrava, Czechia).
Midfielders: Chibuzo Nwoko (Fulham FC, England); Stephen Michael (Vendsyssel FF, Denmark); Igor Wilfred (Kristiansund FC, Norway); Aderemi Adeoye (Ikorodu City), Ibraheem Ajasa (FC Rostov).
Forwards: Kelechi Iheanacho (Bursaspor FC, Turkey); Moses Simon (Paris FC, France); Akor Adams (Venezia FC, Italy); Peter Edokpolor (SL Benfica, Portugal); Abubakar Umar (FC Famalicao, Portugal); Abdullahi Umar (Hradec Kralove, Czechia).
Projected starting XI
GK: Stanley Nwabali
DF: Abdullahi Bewene, Benjamin Fredrick, Emmanuel Fernandez, Issac James
MF: Stephen Michael, Igor Wilfred, Aderemi Adeoye, Moses Simon
FW: Akor Adams, Kelechi Iheanacho