Jose Peisero and his technical crew have invited twenty-seven players into the Eagles camp ahead of their quest into the AFCON qualifiers. Nigeria was paired alongside Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Guinea-Bissau in group A. Regardless of their appalling friendlies against Mexico and Ecuador in the USA, Super Eagles will kick-start their AFCON qualifiers against Leone Stars of Sierra Leone and São Tomé this month.
Victor Osimhen who according to many sources wished to be left out during both friendlies games is invited. Rotterdam’s number one shot stopper Maduka Okoye was not included in the list. He has not featured for Nigeria since the last AFCON game he played in the round of sixteen when the Eagles were eliminated by Tunisia through what many Nigerians described as a “cheap goal”.
Nigeria has not won its last five games, among which were the two-leg World Cup qualifiers against Ghana, two friendlies games against Mexico and Ecuador and the round of sixteen eliminations from the AFCON in Cameroon.
Austin Eguaveon resigned due to a rollercoaster campaign he witnessed as the interim coach with the Super Eagles. Jose Peisero, his successor also has begun with a poor start, this has left many Nigerians in a dilemma if truly he is the right man for the job.
The list of players includes:
Goalkeeper: Francis Uzoho, Adewale Adeyinka, and Adebayo Adeleye.
Defenders: Troost Ekong, Kenneth Omerua, Leon Balogun, Chidozie Awaziem, Calvin Bassey, Sami Ajayi, Ola Aina, Saidu Zanusi, Sani Faisal and Abdullahi Shehu.
Midfielders: Alex Iwobi, Joe Aribo, Peter Etebo, Bonke Innocent, and Frank Onyeka.
Forward: Victor Osimhen, Simon Moses, Samuel Chukwueze, Ahmed Moses, Sadiq Umar, Dennis Emmanuel, Ademola Lookman, Terem Moffi and Cyriel Dessers.
Missing players in the squad are Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi, Odion Igalo, Maduka Okoye, and Chidera Ejuke.
Only Sani Faisal of Katsina and Adewale Adeyinka of Akwa United were the only players retained from the home-based team, with others not sited.
