Super Eagles Coach, Eric Chelle, will trim his preliminary list to the number required for the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) before the team moves to Cairo for an international friendly game against Egypt on December 14, officials of the team have said.
The Super Eagles will open their camp for the AFCON in Egypt on December 10 and take on the Pharaohs in an international friendly on December 14. If arrangements go as planned, the Super Eagles will play another test game in Egypt before heading to Rabat ahead of the AFCON opening game on December 21.
The Malian has been criticised by many for naming an “unwieldy” number of players in his provisional list for the championship, but Super Eagles’ Media Officer, Promise Efoghe, told The Guardian, yesterday, that the number is strategic.
Efoghe said that the coach knows that anything can happen before the AFCON kicks off hence he decided to put all the potential members of the squad to the competition on notice.
“Of course, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will not take 55 players to camp, but the list will take care of the unexpected before the AFCON.
“Chelle will name the final list of players for the AFCON a few days before the championship and as you know, CAF has already set the date (December 11) for countries to submit their team lists for the championship.” He said the Eagles’ manager has opened the Eagles’ camp to every good player eligible to play for Nigeria, adding that some of the new names on the 55-man list could eventually make the final list.
Among the names on the list are five home-based players and 12 Europe-based stars, who are making their first appearance on the senior national team register.
The new players on the list are Ryan Alebiosu (Blackburn Rovers, England); Adekunle Adeleke (Abia Warriors); Tochukwu Nnadi (Zulte Waregem, Belgium); Ebenezer Akinsanmiro (Pisa SC, Italy); Usman Muhammed (Ironi Tiberias, Israel); Peter Agba (Maccabi Haifa, Israel); and Tom Dele-Bashiru (Gençlerbirligi SK, Turkey), whose brother, Fisayo, has been regular in the team recently.
Others are Olakunle Olusegun (Pari Nizhny Novgorod, Russia); Abdulrasheed Shehu (Niger Tornadoes); Rafiu Durosinmi (Viktoria Plzen, Czech Republic); Ekeson Okorie (Nasarawa United); Chisom Orji (Warri Wolves); Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi (OH Leuven, Belgium); Philip Otele (FC Basel, Switzerland); Salim Fago Lawal (NK Istra 1961 (Croatia); and Emmanuel Michael (Linzer Athletik SK, Austria).
