Julius OkorieNo fewer than 20 Players have arrived Super Eagles Camp, ahead of their double header AFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively.
Leading the pack is Super Eagles Captain, William Toost-Ekong, who celebrated his birthday on September 1, ever-ready Ademola Lookman, whose transfer from Atalanta failed to click within the just ended transfer window, and England-based quartet, Ola Aina, Semi Ajayi, Taiwo Awoniyi, and Wilfred Ndidi.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAlso in camp are South Africa-based goalkeepers, Olisa Ndah and Stanley Nwabali, Bayer Leverkusen Victor Boniface, Lazio Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, and former Bendel Insurance goalkeeper Amas Obasogie.
Tuesday saw the arrival of Benjamin Tanimu, who replaced injured Bright Osayi-Samuel,,Fulham duo, Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi, Moses Simon, Samuel Chukweuze, Raphael Onyedika, Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi, Bruno Onyemaechi, Frank Onyeka. According to the NFF, the trio of Kelechi Ihenacho who recently moved to Sevilla,,Goalkeeper Maduka Okoye and Galatasary bound Victor Osimhen are hopefully expected to hit camp by Thursday.
Speaking ahead of his immediate two game project, Coach Austin Eguavoen, who will be supported by a consortium of coaches, including Fidelis Ilechukwu of Rangers and Daniel Ogunmodede of Remo Stars, expressed optimism that the team will sing victory song on Saturday in Uyo and Tuesday in Kigali, Rwanda.
“Nigeria is a nation that, in terms of football, a lot of countries respect, and there is no difference in this one,” he said.
“I am very confident that we will scale through these two games and beyond. We have the players, personnel, and support; the only thing we need to remind the players of is that they were almost African champions a few months ago, so what went wrong? They are still the same players; we will do everything we need to do as a technical crew and, of course, as a federation, but they are the ones to rally around.
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“I have spoken to them, and we are still going to have a series of meetings, but I am very confident that they will make the nation proud. We will treat Benin with uttermost respect because this is football, where anything can happen, but this is our home” he enthused.
Meanwhile, Cheetahs of Benin Republic are expected in Uyo on Thursday for the Saturday showdown. The Gernot Rohr tutored side, are still basking in the euphoria of their 2-1 victory over Super Eagles in the World Cup qualifiers in Abidjan under former coach, Finidi George.
Rohr, who boasts of his knowledge of Nigerian football and Nigerian players, will be hoping to put his knowledge to good use with intent to re-enact achievement recorded in June this year.
Analysts and fans alike will however be eager to see how he will survive the wits of Super Eagles three wise men, the trio of Eaguavoen, Ilechukwu and Ogunmodede in front of Uyo fans ,who are happy to have Eagles back to the Nest of Champions.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
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