The list of players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria for the AFCON qualifiers game against Sao Tome and Principe has a total of 34 players penciled down for possible inclusion in the final 24 man list for the game, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
As first reported as well, the list was compiled by the technical department of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) led by Austine Eguavoen, who will likely lead the team in the event that an agreement isn’t reached on the extension of the coach of the team Jose Peseiro.
Sources said Peseiro submitted the list of 34 players with 23 of them officially invited and sent it for approval to the technical department, they in turn now questioned why all players in the list are foreign based as opposed to the agreement that at least three players should be picked from the local scene in every list.
Peseiro defended it by saying that, the game which is a dead rubber tie with Nigeria already through to the AFCON is the last window to try some foreign based players like Victor Boniface, Gift Orban, Igho Ogbu and Alhassan Yusuf who he has been monitoring for a while, ahead of the start of the world cup qualifiers in November.
The discussion was halted with focus mainly on his contract renewal, however sources say they feel the list has been tempered with by the addition of a player from the NPFL and also axing some foreign based players.
Meanwhile, the battle for who will lead the team in the event that an agreement isn’t reached with Peseiro is also a heated debate, much more than the players who were called up to the game .
On the players side, the final list of 24 will be made public after this weekend game in Europe, where all players on the list will be monitored and also checks will be made on those who will be replaced in the event of an Injury, their replacement will come from the provisional list of 34.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
