Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle sprung a huge surprise when he picked Usman Mohammed of Israeli side Ironi Tiberias in his team for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Usman Mohammed has been in the international wilderness for seven years and from making the provisional list, he was shockingly handed a spot in the final 28 man list for the tournament.
His inclusion came at the expense of a player of the team who revealed that he had talks with Chelle about going to the AFCON, only for him to see in the news that he wasn’t in the list.
” First time I saw the report that I didn’t make the team was from you guys. I waited to see what will happen because I had a very positive discussion with the coach but Usman Mohammed was picked ahead of me from what I gathered. It’s all political and I can only wish the team well at the tournament”, he revealed.
He went further to say he reliably gathered that his name and that of four others was taken out from the list after a meeting between the coach and NFF for reasons best known to them.
” Five of us didn’t see our name in the list when it came out yesterday, I reliably gathered from my agent that the meeting with the NFF technical committee played a part in the decision to drop our names. It’s fine and I can only wish the team all the best”, he stated.
