Tournament outsiders Zambia unexpectedly held the more fancied Nigerians to a goalless draw last night in both sides’ final warm-up match before their opening African Nations Cup fixtures next week.

The game was held behind closed doors at the ABSA Stadium in Durban and was Nigeria’s last warm-up fixture. Zambia face South Korea at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Nigerian coach Shaibu Amodu’s team have been criticised by many of their own supporters for lack of enterprise. And the rugged, defensive-minded Chipolopolo held their own against a near full-strength Super Eagles.

However, defender Yusuf Mohamed has backed Amodu, one of the few domestic coaches among the ACN finalists. Mohamed said: “I know that people always talk about getting the experience of a foreign coach.

“But we have all the training methods that are done in Europe and (Amodu) has been good with motivating us. The team is confident.”

Nigeria face defending champions Egypt in their opening Group C fixture in Benguela on Tuesday, one of the key ties of the group stages. Zambia open their Group D campaign against Tunisia in Lubango the following day.

Tournament favourites Cote D’Ivoire left it late before overcoming Rwanda 2-0 at Tanzania’s National Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam in their last warm-up game.

Headers by Hibernian’s Suleiman Bamba and Honved‘s Benjamin Angoua Brou, both defenders, on 85 and 90 minutes respectively, sealed victory ahead of the Elephants’ opening ACN fixture against Burkina Faso at the Estadio de Cabinda on Monday.