Julius Okorie
As months gradually roll into weeks to next set of world cup qualifiers, injury worries for new Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle appears to be increasing.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelNo fewer than three Super Eagles players have clubbed injuries recently and may be racing against time ahead of the double header World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe respectively next month.
Raphael Onyedika whose club, Club Brugge incidentally sacked Ademola Lookman’s Atalanta from the Champions league, is the latest to join the league of injured Eagles.
Onyedika was forced out of Brugge Belgian league clash against Standard Liège on Sunday.
Club Brugge confirmed the midfielder’s injury after he was substituted in the 23rd minutes of the encounter that saw Standard Liege run away with a 2-1 victory.
Club officials we gather are looking closely to determine the nature of injury and to what extent he will be sidelined.
Prior to Onyedika’s injury, the duo of Semi Ajayi and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru who ply their trade with West Brom and Lazio respectively have been hit by injuries
While Semi Ajayi was injured in West Brom’s 2-0 win over Oxford United, Dele-Bashiru suffered an ankle injury in Lazio’s goalless draw with Venezia.
Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle who recently returned from European tour to rub minds with foreign based Eagles, will be hoping to have the full complement of his players ahead of the qualifiers that will signal whether or not he will be having a smooth or bumpy takeoff in his assignment.
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The former Mali coach has also flagged off visits to local league matches all aimed at noting and penciling down players that could be of help to his desire to ultimately qualify Nigeria for the 2026 World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico.
Nigeria failed to show up at the last world in Qatar after crashing out in a two-legged play-off against Black Stars of Ghana.
Super Eagles who lost 2-1 in the their last outing to Cheetahs of Benin Republic in June last year, will re-open campaign against Rwanda March 17 at the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali, followed by a home clash against Zimbabwe March 24 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
The Eagles are eyeing a sixth World Cup appearance after featuring in five previous editions. But for the 2006 edition in Germany and 2022 edition in Qatar, Nigeria would have recorded uninterrupted appearances at the world cup since making a debut in 1994 in the United States.
The best outing for the country described as the most populous black nation in the world, has been the round of 16 finishes recorded in 1994 in USA, 1988 in France and 2014 in Brazil.
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.
