……As 20 Players Continue Training
The trio of Fulham of England midfielder, Alex Iwobi, Atalanta of Italy red hot forward, Ademola Lookman and goalkeeper Maduka Okoye of Udinese are still conspicuously missing at the Super Eagles camp in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, this Sportsday newspaper can authoritatively disclose.
As at the time of filing this report, on Wednesday morning, only 20 players are in camp training.
The Eagles will this Friday, June 7, face the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in a must win 2026 world cup qualifying encounter at the Godswill Akpabio stadium.
But preparations for the match has been somewhat hampered by the strike action embarked upon by Organised Labour/Trade Unions which was only suspended Tuesday for five days to allow for further negotiations with the government.
Coach Finidi George has the compliment of 20 players out of the 23 players invited for the match due largely to the strike.
Finidi will be at the touchline in his first major competitive game since after being named as substantive head coach in May, even though he has handled the team on interim capacity in two friendly games against Ghana which he won 2-0 and Mali which they were defeated 2-1.
The former Ajax of Amsterdam winger is expected to immediately begin with important victories or wins against the South Africans and Benin Republic who they play June 10 in Cote d’ivoire.
Nigeria only managed to pick 2 points in their first two world cup qualifying matches following draws against Lesotho 1-1 and Zimbabwe 1-1 as well.
This placed the Eagles in a precarious situation as it stands with Rwanda leading the Group C with 4 points, South Africa occupy the second spot with 3 points while Nigeria follows in third position with 2 points, with Zimbabwe and Lesotho coming next with same points while Benin sits at the bottom with no point.