The quartet of Maduka Okoye, Uche Chrisantus, Tolu Arokodare and Rafiu Durosinmi where shock omissions from the senior national team of Nigeria for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Okoye who was left out based on an agreement reached between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Udinese, following the refusal of head coach Eric Chelle to guarantee him a starting spot at the tournament.
He kept his spot in goal for the team yesterday against the league champions Napoli and kept a clean sheet as they run out 1-0 winners in the Serie A yesterday. A perfect reaction to Chelle not giving him an assurance that he will be first choice.
Uche Chrisantus of Crystal Palace was another one who reacted to getting snubbed almost immediately with his first goal for the team in the Europa Conference League as they run out 3-0 winners over Irish side Shelbourne.
Yesterday he played the final 14 minutes of their 0-3 defeat to Manchester City. His fourth straight game after struggling to play in six consecutive games.
Tolu Arokodare dropped from attack almost earned his team Wolverhampton Wanderers a point against Arsenal with a header to tie them 1-1, but Arsenal struck with virtually the last kick of the game to win 2-1.
Rafiu Durosinmi notched his 7th league goal of the season in Czech Republic for Viktoria Plzen in their 2-0 win over Dukla. In all competitions he now has 13 goals in 30 games this season.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
