Nigeria coach Eric Chelle said the players who earned Tuesday's 3-3 draw against Russia may have forced their way into his senior squad, following their performances in Nizhny Novgorod.
Chelle fielded a largely experimental side, with nine players making their senior international debuts on the day. Eight of those nine players were under the age of 22, with the youngest, Peter Edokpolor, Stephen Michael and Abdullahi Umar, all aged 19.
Only left back Isaac James, who has already turned 22, falls outside the 2028 Olympics age-eligible cutoff and Chelle admitted that some of the players had done enough to earn consideration, not just for the Olympic team, but for November's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
"We came with the B team of the under-23," Chelle said after the game. "Some of them will be in the team now. But after the game that they showed us, some of them will be even in the senior team for the next FIFA window.
"I have 10 days to make plans for November, so we will see."
After the disappointment of the two games in the October window, these performance have now given Chelle additional options as he prepares for the November window of 2027 AFCON qualifiers, where Nigeria will play a double-header against Tanzania, while also building the Nigerian team that will attempt to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The Franco-Malian coach was handed responsibility for Nigeria's Olympic team in June, alongside his senior national team duties, under an arrangement intended to provide a pathway for younger players into the Super Eagles.
"We have two objectives, first qualification for AFCON and then qualification for the Olympic Games," Chelle said.
The arrangement means several of the players who featured against Russia could be involved in both campaigns. In total, 10 of the 16 Nigerians who played on Tuesday are eligible for the 2028 Olympics, having been born on or after Jan. 1, 2005.
Among those who made a case for future involvement were Ikorodu City's Aderemi Adeoye, the only home-based outfield player in the squad, Umar Abdullahi, Peter Edokpolor, Isaac James and Abdullahi Bewene, whose contributions helped Nigeria recover from a 3-1 deficit.
Edokpolor, the 19-year-old Benfica forward, scored Nigeria's second goal in the 78th minute after coming off the bench, driving through the Russian defense before beating goalkeeper Aleksandr Maksimenko.
Abdullahi, another second-half substitute, was involved in the late comeback. The Hradec Kralove forward nearly scored after winning possession high up the pitch, before setting up Akor Adams for the equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Adeoye started in midfield and was a key reason why Nigeria's midfield, despite being dominated for the most part, were not completely overrun, bringing energy, intensity, running and good awareness of the play in his holding role.
Bewene, who plays for Czech club Banik Ostrava, showed confidence, adventure and ability at right back, and supplied the pass for Iheanacho's opening goal in the 11th minute.
Fulham midfielder Chibuzo Nwoko also featured from the start, contributing in midfield before being replaced by Vince Osuji late in the second half. Alverca's Isaac James, looked impressive at left back and was involved in the attacking move that created an opportunity for Abdullahi before Nigeria's late recovery.
Chelle said he was particular impressed by the willingness of his young players to compete: "We played with young players who want to show something, they were very aggressive."
Incidentally, the coach's decision to field such an inexperienced side was partly forced by circumstances, rather than by design. Injuries, club restrictions, and travel documentation problems meant that Nigeria travelled to Russia without several players on Chelle's initial call-up list, including captain Wilfred Ndidi, Raphael Onyedika and Bright Osayi-Samuel.
The coach said tactical adjustments to his forward line helped create the opportunities from which Nigeria scored twice in the closing stages: "We had some momentum for us in the beginning of the first half. They had some big momentum at the end of the first half, that is why they had two goals.
"We found a solution because tactically we changed a little something about our strikers and at the end of the second half, we found the solution and this is why we scored two goals in transition."
The result was Nigeria's second draw against Russia in 16 months, following a 1-1 friendly in Moscow in June 2025, when Tolu Arokodare scored the Super Eagles' equaliser.
It also provided Chelle with an opportunity to assess players who could form the nucleus of his Olympic qualifying squad. Nigeria have failed to qualify for the last two men's Olympic football tournaments, missing Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
The country's last appearance was at Rio 2016, where Samson Siasia's team won bronze. Siasia was also in charge when the team won silver at Beijing 2008, losing to a Lionel Messi-led Argentina in the gold medal game.