AFCON QUALIFIERS: Omeruo out of Lesotho, Benin Games

C.D. Leganés defender, Kenneth Omeruo, has been stopped from playing for the Super Eagles in their African Cup of Nations qualifier games against Lesotho and Benin Republic.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed that the defender will now be replaced by Adeleke Adekunle of Abia Warriors FC.

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With Omeruo, the list of foreign based players that have dropped out the qualifiers has risen to four as Moses Simon of Nantes (France), Samuel Kalu of Bordeaux (France) and Sadiq Umar of Almeria (Spain) had earlier been excused from the team.

❗️❗️Adeleke Adekunle of @AbiaWarriors replaces @omeruo22 #soarsupereagles #team9jaStrong pic.twitter.com/shmbqPBi4X

— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) March 20, 2021

Coach Gernot Rohr had earlier called up Enyimba winger, Anayo Iwuala, Paul Onuachu of Genk, and Henry Onyekuru of Galatasaray to replace the trio of Umar, Kalu and Moses.

Aside injured Samuel Kalu, other players affected were stopped by their teams due to COVID-19 guidelines in the countries where they ply their trade.

“Due to the pandemic crisis that we are experiencing, due to COVID-19 and thoroughly evaluating all the impacts, we believe that the sanitary security or bureaucratic conditions are not met, so that our player Sadiq Umar can present himself to the call-up of the Nigerian national team,” Almeria had stated in a statement.

“Therefore, based on article 3.1b of annex 1 of FIFA RSTP, we have notified the player not to appear at the aforementioned call.”

The Eagles are billed to face Benin Republic in Port Novo on March 27, with their final group fixture against Lesotho holding three days later at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

Nigeria lead Group L of the Afcon qualifiers with eight points and victory over Benin or Lesotho will seal their place at the 2022 AFCON that will be hosted by Cameroon.