KAA Gent’s latest scoring sensation, Gift Orban, will not be available for Nigeria in Wednesday’s 2023 U-23 AFCON qualifier between the Olympic Eagles and their counterparts from Guinea at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja, Completesports.com reports
Head coach of the Olympic Eagles, Salisu Yusuf, who revealed this said the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has told him to go and prosecute the U-23 AFCON qualifying games against Guinea U23s with the players at his disposal and to forget about Orban for now.
Also Read: 2023 AFCONQ: Guinea-Bissau To Depart For Nigeria Tuesday Morning
“Orban is out of the two-legged fixtures [vs Guinea U23s]. So we are going ahead to make do with the players we have in camp. The home-based boys in camp, with the invited foreign-based, are in good shape and I am convinced they won’t disappoint on Wednesday and in the return leg on Monday,” Yusuf told Completesports.com in an exclusive interview after the Olympic Eagles’ training session on Monday.
“As you can see from our training session today [Monday], the boys are raring to go. I have 23 players in camp and I think we are good to go.
“We shall give it our best shot to ensure that we not only qualify for the 2023 AFCON but also the Olympic Games.”
Orban’s explosive form in 2022/23 Belgian Jupiler League has seen his score net goals and one assist in six games for KAA Gent.
By Richard Jideaka in Abuja
4 Comments
Most times it turns out a blessing when this things happen
Jealousy from the coach. I’m not surprised at all. The coach is even angry that Gift is not the only player in Gent while is his name the only one whose name is being mentioned
If Nigeria does not have ambitions Gent have plenty of ambitions this season……Gent is in the playoffs position and they have a fighting chance to win the league……Club brugge is breathing down their neck just in 5th and also wanting to grab the 4th position from them which is the last playoff slot……So they should allow their star player and the main reason they are in the title race to come to Nigeria’s u23 and risk him getting injured…….Gent Should risk their star player for an U23 afcon qualifier that everyone knows is not even important to Nigeria……. una try well well……. Nigeria wants everything from you but are not willing to give back anything.
Nobody revealed the names of the home based players in the u23 camp. Can we confirm if OSA of Bendel insurance the league Goal king averaging almost 1 goal per match was invited because he is below 23. Or can we confirm if we have the goalkeeper of Insurance and Lobi Stars as well??? It will be strange if it has gotten to the point of Ghost dealings.