Nigeria opened camp on Sunday to commence preparation for the last leg of AFCON 2021 qualifiers, with Benin Republic and Lesotho on the cards.
The Super Eagles, who sit atop Group L with eight points and have a point advantage over the Squirrels of Benin, set up at the plush Eko Hotel and Suites and players have been dashing in from the opening day.
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However, COVID-19 restriction, and travelling issues have mired international players’ itinerary in recent days, the most high profile being France’s quarantine threat to non-EU player that the nation ultimately back-pedaled.
We take a look at the 19 players presently in camp, already sweating it out in the gym, pacing the Teslim Balogun stadium and spraying the passes as training begins today.
Although presently clubless, Captain Ahmed Musa led the way and he was joined on the opening day by the England-based trio of Ola Aina, Semi Ajayi and William Troost-Ekong.
Ajayi was an unused substitute in West Bromwich Albion’s last fixture on 13 March and therefore has a week’s rest before camp opened. The defender has not played a minute of club football since receiving a red card against Burnley over a month ago.
Olaoluwa Aina, however, played 72 minutes of Fulham’s 1-2 loss to Leeds last week Friday before dashing down to motherland, same as Troost-Ekong who featured for the duration of Watford’s 3-0 win on Saturday.
While the quartet were settling in, the Galatasaray duo of Henry Onyekuru and Oghenekaro Etebo from Turkey while Chidozie Awaziem and Abdullahi Shehu joined from Portugal and Greece respectively.
Gernot Rohr’s squad then added the home-based duo of Anayo Iwuala and John Noble of Enyimba.
Both arrived directly from their NPFL game against Sunshine Stars at the Agege Stadium where they helped the People’s Elephants of Aba to a 1-0 victory.
The floodgates opened with the arrival of other European players on Monday and early Tuesday, with goalkeeper Francis Uzoho the latest in camp at the time of this report. Zaidu Sanusi, Wilfred Ndidi, Samuel Chukwueze and free-scoring Kelechi Iheanacho are expected later today.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will travel to Cotonou on Friday to face Benin at the Stade Charles de Gaulle in Porto-Novo.
Nigeria can qualify for their 19th appearance at the AFCON tournament if they defeat Michel Dussuyer’s Squirrels on Saturday.
