Odion Ighalo will lead the Super Eagles attack in today’s (Friday) dead rubber 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against the Pirates of Seychelles at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, Completesports.com reports.
Ighalo who missed Nigeria’s last game in the qualifiers against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa last year due to injury is favoured to start ahead of new invitee Paul Onuachu of Danish side, FC Midtjylland.
The Shanghai Shenhua of China striker is tied on six goals with Burundi forward Fiston Abdulrazak, while Comoros Fardou Ben Nabouhane is on five goals.
Young goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho will keep his place in goal, while Leon Balogun will have to make do with a place on the bench with Kenneth Omeruo expected to pair William Troost-Ekong in central defence.
Jamilu Collins will retain his position at left-back with Shehu Abdullahi operating from the right-back position.
The duo of Wilfred Ndidi who missed the last game against South Africa due to suspension Oghenekaro Etebo and Alex Iwobi will take charge of midfield duties.
Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia winger, Ahmed Musa who is expected to lead the team in absence of John Mikel Obi and Henry Onyekuru will join Ighalo up front.
The Super Eagles are already through to AFCON 2019 following a 1-1 draw against South Africa in their last game.
Seychelles have managed to pick up just 1 point in the qualifying series.
HOW SUPER EAGLES WILL LINE-UP VS SEYCHELLES
Goalkeeper: Francis Uzoho
Defenders: Shehu Abdullahi, William Troost-Ekong, Kenneth Omeruo, Jamiu Collins
Midfielders: Oghenkaro Etebo, Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi
Strikers: Henry Onyekuru, Ahmed Musa, Odion Ighalo
By Adeboye Amosu
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COMMENTS
My initial thoughts:
– If Ighalo, as expected, will be the de facto number 9 in Egypt, it makes sense to give him as much game time as possible.
– I would implore Onyekuru to make the best of this opportunity. If he does, he has the potentials to compete with Kali for an automatic starting slot.
– A strong showing for Omeruo and maybe (maybe) he might just wrestle an automatic slot from Balogun.
– It is now all but confirmed that a fit Shehu Abdullahi is Rohr’s first choice right back.
– Semi Ajayi will have to rely on either injury or a dramatic loss of form to Ndidi for him to gain an automatic starting slot; regardless of how many goals he might score in the English tier 2 league.
4-2-3-1 formation has served Rohr well in African football. He shows no signs of dropping this winning formula.
However, he has been known to revert to 3-5-2 when the going gets tough.
Apt analysis, deo! But I really would love to see Rohr give Simi Ajayi enough game time in these 2 matches, in place of Ndidi. I like the flashes of brilliance from him I saw in the match against South Africa.
Onyekuru has been given a chance to stake a claim to a starting shirt – thanks to the absence of Kalu Samuel. Rohr is obviously in love with Ighalo. Onuachu, Ishimen etc can only hope for a bench or supersub role.
All in all, this SE squad inspires confidence; and still continues to evolve into a stronger and stronger unit.
Amen to that!
A very strong line up indeed.Rohr likes to play the fittest 11 irrespective of the situation or opponent.This is good because we can now boast of having a team,a team that has played together with a near perfect understanding.
However,i expect at least five changes in the Egypt game.The whole point of friendlies is to try new things and make possible changes where necessary going forward.The likes of Onuachu and Ajayi both have been making headlines in Europe so we need to see what they can bring to the team.So it would be good to see this two from the start.
I hope Mr. Rohr uses the same starting eleven against Egypt. It is better for us to evaluate SE management and the team against a more competitive opposition.
Having SE fringe players on the line up for today’s game makes more sense to me than playing them against strong oppositions like Egypt. For example, Ighalo’s record against strong teams is not that impressive. Starting new players against Seychelles provides a fair assessment of their abilities.
If fringe players do not face top teams, who will you know they are “worthy of the mark”. The main team and the management has been facing top opposition and competitive games for over 2 years, unbeaten in the process, you havent rated them…. It is the inconsequential friendly with a 2nd string Egyptian team you want to use to rate them. Talk about misplaced priorities.