Nigeria’s Olympic Eagles bounced back from a goalless draw in their first warm-up by beating Nigeria National League side, Grassrunners FC 3-1 in a friendly on Friday at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne, Ogun State.

Adeleke, Simeon and Itowo got the goals for the U-23 side, who are preparing for a two-legged qualifier against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The win is a lift for a squad that settled for a 0-0 draw against NPFL side Remo Stars in the same venue a week earlier. The match with Grassrunners was expected to give the coaches another chance to assess fitness, tactical understanding and cohesion, and gave home-based players in camp one more opportunity to impress and secure places in the squad for the qualifiers.

The team has been working in Ogun State since late October, with camp opened at a hotel in Ijebu-Ode before training moved to the Remo Stars Stadium. Seven players were released to fulfil NPFL fixtures for their clubs, leaving 23 players and 11 officials in camp. The squad has been built largely around home-based professionals, and coach Éric Chelle is expected to add foreign-based players before the competitive matches begin.

Nigeria take on DR Congo in the second round of the 2027 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations qualifiers, having been given a bye through the first round. The Congolese advanced by beating Mauritania over two legs. The first leg is in Lubumbashi on Friday, 13 November, with the return at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne on Tuesday, 17 November. The aggregate winner reaches the final qualifying round, in which seven two-legged ties will decide the remaining nations to join hosts Egypt.

The stakes extend beyond the continental tournament. It doubles as Africa’s route to the men’s football event at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and Nigeria are looking to end a drought after missing the last two editions.

Chelle will not be on the bench for the tie, as his duties with the Super Eagles, who face Tanzania in the same international window, mean his assistants, Deniran Ortega and Bright Osehai Ozebagbe, will oversee the Olympic Eagles.

Nigeria are not expected to play another friendly before travelling to Lubumbashi.