The decision of head coach of the senior national team of Eric Chelle to call up the duo of Christian Akpan and Abdullahi Bewene to the team in preparation for the games against Poland and Portugal respectively raised eyebrows.
Bewene who plays for Czech Republic side Banik Ostrava already made his debut against Poland and posted a very impressive performance, which proved correct the decision of Chelle to hand him a late invitation.
Genk defender Christian Akpan arrived the camp of the team yesterday, and will now go into the plans for the game against Portugal on the 10th of June.
Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal that the duo benefited from the withdrawal of some invited players particularly at right back ,where Bright Osayi-Samuel the sole option in the list withdrew, and also the fact that they won’t need to apply for a visa before travelling to either of the countries.
Chelle has a six man shortlist to pick from but settled for the duo, who are both 21 year old primarily because they have been active in the build up to the games, hence will be ready to play.
Akpan is coming of the back of his first game for the senior team of Genk last weekend, where he was voted as the man of the match. It’s the same for Bewene who was also active just a week ago.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
