The trio of Peter Olayinka, Francis and Henry Onyekuru are the latest arrivals in the Super Eagles Abuja camp ahead of the 2021 AFCON.
The Eagles media team disclosed the latest players to hit camp.
Following the trios arrival, the number of players is now 10 with more still being expected.
Also Read: Eguavoen: Watford Threatened Dennis Over AFCON
While Onyekuru and Uzoho would be making their second AFCON appearance, this will be Olayinka’s debut.
The Eagles will be hoping to secure a fourth AFCON title after last winning it in 2013 in South Africa.
At the last edition in Egypt they beat Tunisia in the third-placed match to claim the bronze.
They will open this year’s campaign with an heavyweight clash with seven-time champions Egypt.
Super Eagles players in camp:
Francis Uzoho(AC Omonia, Cyprus), Henry Onyekuru(Olympiacos, Greece), Peter Olayinka(Slavia Praha, Czech Republic), Chidozie Awaziem(Alayanspor, Turkey), Chidera Ejuke(CSKA Moscow, Russia), Daniel Akpeyi(Kaizer Chiefs, South Africa), Sadiq Umar(UD Almeria, Spain), Olisa Ndah(Orlando Pirates, South Africa), John Noble(Enyimba FC), Taiwo Awoniyi(Union Berlin, Germany).
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COMMENTS
_ Camp Swirling, Confidence Rising _
With 10 days to go to Nigeria’s first Afcon group stage encounter against the Pharoes of Egypt, at least 10 players have arrived in camp with several others rumoured to be on the way.
This represents 37% of the players invited at this time.
This is the sort of news we fans want to be reading from here on in
No more distractions!
Even Egypt, though involved in a major tournament recently, do not also have time to play quality tune up matches ahead of their epic encounter against us Nigeria.
Sudan, the other team in the group, are leaving no stone unturned in preparing to face heavyweights Nigeria and Egypt and potential spoilers Guinea Bissau. They just played a high profile friendly match against Ethiopia that they narrowly lost 3:2.
Guinea Bissau coach has been talking tough ahead of the tournament as he expects to grind out favourable results against Nigeria and Egypt. “We have a tough group with strong teams like Egypt, Nigeria and Sudan.” Said coach Baciro Candé. “But we have what it takes to get some good results and qualify out of the group.”
I would implore Eguavoen and his team of coaches not to take the threat of Guinea Bissau lightly. Though currently ranked 106 on the FIFA rankings, they have players from decent European clubs.
Eguavoen has already stated that he would prepare for teams very differently based on the threat each poses. With more players trickling into the camp, the preparations should pick up pace in the coming days.
It was good to read how the late call ups like Ebuehi and Olayinka embraced their invitations despite being previously overlooked. This is the Nigeria-Spirit that helps produce results when odds are stacked against the Super Eagles.
Despite not having that much time to prepare, these are players that having been together for over 3 years now. 100% of Rohr’s Nigerian coaching crew were retained whilst Eguavoen was the same technical director during the world cup qualifiers.
So there is measure of continuity.
Once all the recent distractions fade into the background, what should emerge from the crucible is a team of players and coaches with sufficient hunger, desire and passion to do Nigeria proud against all odds.
The first match against Egypt will set the tone and should be played in frenetic pace. I am beginning to start to look forward to it with relish and excitement. As the Super Eagles camp start to slowly swirl with players so will my confidence and morale begin to rise again.
To be honest, the Super Eagles are not new to haphazard preparations prior to tournaments. This has somewhat paradoxically worked in their favour.
Crazy preparations is in the DNA of the Nigerian set up, regardless of the NFF administration at the time.
But once the team settle to play, it is usually a different ball game.
Let’s hope this happen proves to be the same for the Super Eagles!
When has haphazard preparation work in their favour. Typical Nigerian normalizing nonsense and disorganization.
Egypt is playing Tanzania and they are camping in Qatar where the Arab cup just concluded
No I disagree. I think preparations for the 2016 Olympics was a bit shoddy yet Nigeria came home with Bronze. There are other tournaments where Nigeria’s preparations could have been much better yet they did not come home empty handed.
It is not about “typical Nigerian normalizing nonsense” like you put it. This group of players have been together for over two years now and I am hoping that they can still put a decent performance at the Afcon despite the upheaval caused by the rather untimely sacking of Gernot Rohr.
Egypt’s game against Tanzania hasn’t received much coverage due to the caliber of Tanzania. I believe they would have loved to play a more formidable outfit if time permitted.
Nobody is praising the Super Eagles preparations for this Afcon. I am hoping to grow into the tournament game by game and slowly work out what works best for them to produce compelling performances as the progress.
I better it is better to be optimistic as there is nothing to be gained from being unduly pessimistic.
CSN should move to reinstall the Edit button so mistakes like those in my hastily-written response above can be corrected before going to print.
Super eagles to lift the AFCON
Super Eagles attack already taking shape.
The remaining players will start arriving from monday after they have completed this weekend’s games with their clubs.
Then we can start talking about tactics and who starts ahead of who and which formation the interim coach should employ.
The fact that the majority of Rhor’s regular boys are yet to arrive camp is an indication that they are complacent and feel irreplaceable. As we can see, only the late invitees have so far hurried down to the camp. Sad.
No the bulk of expected players are from premiership, laliga n seria.
Those players needs to play this weekend before joining the team.
So, Ighalo and Musa are still playing league games? Aribo, Aina and Moses are still playing too?
They will be in camp tomorrow.
Ighalo is playing today against Al-Ahli Saudi.
Laliga has been on break since , so why are Chukweze , Umero et al not in Camp while Sadiq Umar arrive very early . complacency is the answer as the previous writing rightly pointed out
@ Four four two, not true that La Liga are on break, there were games yesterday, there are games today and Villareal will play Levante on the 3rd (Monday).
Sadiq Umar is in camp, yes, Almeria (his club) are at the top of the table and have breathing space (3 points clear with 2 games in hand) , Leganes who play tomorrow have a more crucial game.
Different clubs, different circumstances.
Most top 5 leagues have agreed to release their players on the 3rd of Jan unless they are on break like the Bundesliga or have their games cancelled
Let me first of all say Happy New Year to everyone.
Eight days to go and we are still expecting more invited players in the camp when some participating countries are already in Cameroon and had started playing friendlies.
My brothers and sisters, I can see our fans are of high expectation, exactly how it feels as patriots. But we shouldn’t expect too much. If the Super Eagles make it to the semi finals in Cameroon, fine and good and should they win the cup, all the best. Whatever, the NFF should ensure that the squad is kept together for the next two years to enable them have time for proper grooming. That way, we can be sure of gold in Afcon. But let’s keep hope alive. Good luck SE.
I fully align with your comment. However, besides keeping the present players together, Eguavoen should also train home base players to be part of the super eagles. We can’t continue to depend on foreign based players alone. A case in mind is that of Dennis. Assuming all the invited foreign players refused to honor, what would have happened?
How did we arrived at a team looking for grooming again? How I wish all these type of comment don’t pop up in 2022. Suddenly we have lost hope in super eagles. It just reminds me of the days of difficult qualifications. When will NFF learn, when? This is 2022 we should try abandon greed, selfishness, and sentimental approach to issues of high sensitivity.A team that was already groomed, maybe just looking for a little touch, is now a team that looks like an engine needing overhauling. I smell it that some players are still dissatisfied with Rohr sack and the manner/timing of the sack.
Anyway happy new friends. I wish you guys all the best. Please let’s forge a common front that help the eagles. Our common enemy is still the NFF and sport ministry, despite our differences.
I am concerned on how the sports ministry or the NFF would look at the prospects of have the super eagles coach dig deep by going to the grassroots to discover and unearth local players to represent us in competition. There’s nothing wrong in having a mixture anyway, but if going by Dennis situation is anything, then we had better started planning ahead. Cameroon will come and go, how do we move from there?
Emmanuel Dennis is even on the lossing side in today’s game. Wishing Watford well.
Forget that guy if he doesn’t want to play for eagles let him go. Other players are there. If the rest of the guys play in unity and forget whether Rohr was sacked wrongly or not, victory is ours. Let’s forget him, we should not join him in the list of problems we have. NFF and sport ministry is our concern this year.
Normally, Warri no dey carry last.
But with this current NFF leadership, Warri carry last.
Naija carry last.
We have the most corrupt, incompetent football administration on earth.
When you fail all your subjects in a WAEC exam, they call it “9 PARALLEL”.
F9 all through. That is the grade of NFF.
Switching nationality of players – wahala.
Timely invitation of players – which side?
Pay coaches salaries – hello?
Pay players bonuses – nobody home.
Nigeria football league – hiccup.
Standard pitches – hmmm.
Player welfare – nothing.
The herculean problems that Rohr was silently battling throughout his tenure are now exposed for all to see.
Dear fans of the SE of Nigeria, if you have a medical condition like hypertension or a weak heart, do yourself a favour. Don’t watch Nigeria matches live.
I’m not saying they will fail with their own. They might actually succeed. As Deo mentioned, haphazard preparations is in the DNA of the SE. It even seems to ginger them to greater heights. Let’s hope that is the case at the Afcon.
Having said that, everything about our preparations for this Afcon makes most fans, myself included, FEAR THE WORST.
The NFF is the biggest obstacle we face.
If you put a cook in a carpentry workshop, no be juju be dat?
A carpenter belongs in a carpentry workshop.
We need to have proper football people in the Glass House. People who know the job.
Even if they are corrupt, as long as they are not incompetent, our football will prosper.
The double whammy of corruption and incompetence is too much. No country, no matter how much talent is available, can thrive in this horrendous mess.
Change is urgently needed!
The president of FIFA, Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino, he was never a footballer.
The president of Algeria Football Federation never played football. That of Senegal, I think a lawyer, Egypt’s own a business man. Only Ghana has a one time sports journalist as FA president. For the fact that Cameroon appointment Eto fil as FA chairman doesn’t mean it is the norm, you will now see how stupid you are. The problem with some of you is that you have little or no knowledge about what you are posting, you don’t have to do that for the sake of it. You had better stopped tarnishing people’s name unnecessarily, the people you have wrongly labelled here have no cases of corruption where in Nigeria or at fifa unless you have proofs. You can make comments but you don’t have to lie. Be careful.
That is quite disrespectful of Pompei. You have to apologise
Lolz, I don’t need him to respect me. He can keep the respect.
He is perhaps a disgruntled NFF official.
Did I mention anywhere in my post that we need ex-footballers?
Guilty conscience probably made him bring that up.
What I said was we need people who know how to run football in the Glass House.
I will not dignify him with a direct response.
you are really a fool
I agree whole heartedly. These guys do not have a clue and they will run it to the ground.The unfair way they dish out invites will only create division and players who question these irregularities would be labelled unpatriotic, stubborn and will be blacklisted. Players like dennis. People who are expecting success with this team should do so with limited optimism.
What would be the best formation given the players available or on their way to the Super Eagles camp?
Our over dependency on Victor Osimhen didn’t give us room to try other players in attack for a longer period, so with his absence its like going back to the drawing board and picking someone who has the talent but hasn’t been tried much in the team. I may start with sadiq umar or taiwo awoniyi in attack but something tells me if it was rohr in charge he will start ighalo and maybe iheanacho alongside him and coach eguavoen may buy that idea. Time will tell.
Personally I will like to see how the team plays with this formation and players.
OKOYE.
AWAZIEM. EKONG. OMERUA. ZAIDU
(Ebuehi) (Ajayi) (Aina)
NDIDI. FRANK.
NWAKAILI.(IWOBI)
ARIBO. SADIQ. EJUKE
(CHUKWUEZE) (TAIWO) (SIMON)
i think the coach will go for ajayi ahead of omeruo
then collins ahead of zaidu
It’s almost time.. Excitement already in the air. My dream Starting eleven for this torney goes thus;
Okoye
Aina Ekong Awaziem Collins/Zaidu(This one is tough to choose from, almost same thing)
Ndidi Aribo(Onyeka)
Nwakali(Iwobi)
Chukwueze Iheanacho Ejuke
OR
NDIDI ONYEKA
Chukwueze Iheanacho Ejuke
Ighalo/Awoniyi