The duo of Henry Onyekuru and Victor Osimhen will be drafted into U-23 Eagles for Tuesday’s U-23 Africa Cup of Nations second leg qualifying fixture against Libya, reports Completesports.com.
Imama Amapakabo’s men must overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit to book a spot in the final qualifying round.
Completesports.com further learnt that aside from Onyekuru and Osimhen, the likes of Valentine Ozornwafor, Ikouwen Udoh and other players who still fall within the age bracket will be drafted into the squad for the game.
Onyekuru and Osimhen are part of the 23 players invited by Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr for the games against the Pirates of Seychelles and the Pharaohs of Egypt.
Nigeria won the last edition of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations held for the second time in Senegal four years ago following a 2-1 win over Algeria at the Stade Leopold Sedar Senghor in Dakar.
Africa’s flag-bearers in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament of Tokyo 2020 will emerge at the 3rd U-23 Africa Cup of Nations to hold in Egypt in November this year.
By Adeboye Amosu
18 Comments
Brilliant idea but my fears is the small pitch.
Apparently,Nigeria play from the wings and are not the fastest of teams building up from the back so it’s very easy for oppositions to close up on us making it difficult to break them down.
Exactly my thought.
Look @ what happened to the Super Eagles against Seychelles today because of the small pitch! Playing that game in Asaba will favour Libya. All they need do is pack d bus and the dream team will get frustrated.
They better take that game to Godswill Akpabio stadium.
This is what happened when people that never play football at national level are in affair of football in a nation.
I agree with you guys 100%.I actually don’t know why the NFF kept taking our major and decisive matches to that small pitch in Asaba. I really don’t see us over running the Libyans 23 boys in that small field.I am pretty sure if our game with Seychelles yesterday were to be played at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, the Seychelles guys for collect plenty goals. Going forward, let NFF stop taking our darling Eagle’s matches there again; Akwa Ibom should be the place as their Government are ever willing to host.
Hmmmm I fear if this Guy’s can overturn the scoreline… How can they allow two goals like that in Tunisia?
Now they got alot job to do here in Naija… Let’s see how it’s goes
Move away from Asaba village small pitch, and with Henry and Victor, we may score 3 to over turn this huge deficit hanging over their head. Change the stupid goalkeeper too. What happen to Uyo for God sake ????? Even Abuja Stadium is far better than this Asaba stadium, assuming the political rallies didn’t leave it delipidated.
Great news wishing the dream team a resounding victory over lybia
Furthermore to my mind I’ll relish having the following around to beef up the squad if they surmount this libyan hurdle
Alampasu,(should be #1 in this team)
Awaziem,
Musa Mohammed(should be V.captain)
Ikouwen utin
Chidi nwankali(brings out the best in his sibling)
Ifeanyi Matthew
Nwobodo
Ifeanyi ifeanyi
Henry Onyekuru
Sadiq Umar
Musa yahaya
Victor Osimhen
N:B*
Ideally itz the time of the GE Class of 2013 to be the dream team in a normal progression trajectory
My 2cents!
Peace y’all
Mtcheew
Chidi Nwakali & Alampasu were born in 1996 so are ineligible.
Same with Musa Mohammed
It will pain me if Nigeria didn’t qualify.
Fire brigade approach. The under 23 squad has enough fire power already. All they need is time to train together.
Bringing new players in two days to the match could disrupt any flow and understanding they have started to forge.
A strike force of Dennis Bonaventure, Awoniyi, Okonkwo and Chukwueze should be enough unlock any under 23 defence.
Ozornwafor and Ikouwem should have been part of this squad from day one. Double promotion to the Super Eagles was just “eye service”.
If they were not released on Wednesday or Thursday then waiting until Saturday just doesn’t make sense
I quite agree with you. This panick button we are pressing now may be our undoing. The team doesnt need wholesome changes, otherwise that same lack of cohesion that affected us in Tunisia will also rear it’s head. That was how we also lost out on qualifying for U20 afcon in 2003 under coach musa Abdullahi and the Olympics in 2004 under coach kadiri ikhana…..drafting so-called star players in at d dying minutes. Sometimes we just think real life soccer is like play station where you can just assemble a best XI in one minute and win games.
My recommendation, keep the same team, save for 1 or 2 that didn’t cover themselves in glory on Wednesday, add 1 or two very very experience ones from the SE maybe onyekuru and ndidi. Those 2 are game changers anyday. train together for as many times as possible before Monday and lastly and most importantly take the game away from that damn asaba Stadium. NFF should quickly inform CAF now if it’s not too late. These are the kind of pragmatic moves we should be making now, and not drafting almost another entire XI to the u23s with just 2 days of training left. The Libyans are coming here to pack the bus. Anyone who is conversant with how north Africans execute away games will know that. Ask Lobi stars and Enough rangers
@Dr.Drey I see say the salt don clear 4 ur ey abi…so all of a sudden because Onyekuru scored yesterday now you agree he is a game changer when I was telling you that before you were calling me all sorts of names anyway. Like I always say the truth always prevails. Onyekuru and Chukwueze on either wings and Osimhen down the middle we should finish Libya off
Mr. Pinnick is trying to destroy our national team by bringing politics to our football. Mr Rohr complain of Stephen Keshi stadium in asaba. The stadium is not okay for the super eagles.The pitch is not okay. And the stadium is too small. Nigeria is blessed with one of the best stadium in Africa and our players love and comments about the Nests of Champion. Godswill akpabio International stadium in Akwa Ibom state. We nearly lost to Seychelles yesterday because of bad pitch. Mr.Pinnick should keep politics aside. And return super eagles and the dream team to the nests of champions in Akwa Ibom state.
even if they like, let them mbappe and sancho infact big boys like messi ronaldo as long as asaba primary school pitch is concerned we cannot score libya….except the libyan coach is a fool…all he need to do is play defensively in that small primary school field and dream team will be frustrated…if not chukwueze osimhen onyekuru will be enough to send libya to where they belong,but pinnick will never let eagle and dream team to play in their comfort.
I don t really fancy our chances of beating the Libyans with three goals at the Stephen Keshi stadium with size of the pitch. I noticed the small size of the pitch in the friendly tie against the Crannes of Uganda, where our wide men on the struggle to fly and express themselves, the same thing was observed yesterday with the SE agqinst Seychelles, how the likes of Musa and Onyekuru found it hard to find pocket of spaces on the field to run.
Sometimes, I wonder why we just decide to shoot ourselves on the foot.
And which leavss you asking what is the duty of the team’s technical dept and even the coach, Genot Rohr who should be able to kick against the choice of the stadium with the artificial turf.
I was just trying to imagine that the match was a crucial game to decide our qualification, as we might likely experience with u23 olympic team on Monday.
With respect to the u23 side against Libya, I dont think we will need Onyekuru, Osimhen when you already have Awoniyi, Chukwueze and Dennis Bonaventure who might have learnt their mistakes from the 1st game.
I really doubt there is a functioning technical dept in the national team.
Nigeria lost to South Africa 2:0 in that same Godswill Akpabio stadium. Nigeria should focus on their game and stop giving unnecessary complains