The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) screened the list of players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria for the start of the world cup qualifiers before making the list public, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
23 players were summoned by head coach of the team Jose Peseiro for the games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively. The list was made public last week.
Before the decision to make the list public, the NFF demanded the explanation on the inclusion of some players in the team, with the decision to call up Southampton midfielder Joe Aribo th most scrutinized by the football house.
Aribo has struggled to get games at his English Championship, playing less than ten minutes in their last four games and has shockingly played more minutes for the senior national team of Nigeria than he has at club level the past one month.
We exclusively gathered that Peseiro told the football house that Aribo’s qualities, which is entirely different from the other midfielders in the team is why he is always in despite his lack of playing time at his club. The coach said he is the most attack conscious in the team aside Alex Iwobi.
He however admitted that if his club condition doesn’t get any better then he will be forced to have a different opinion, which could lead to his axing from the sqaud to next year Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
