Six players of the senior national team of Nigeria were barred from playing for the team in the 0-3 defeat away to Guinea-Bissau in the 2027 AFCON qualifiers in Bissau, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Nigeria played the game at the Estádio Nacional 24 de Setembro in Guinea-Bissau, a pitch which can easily pass as one of the worst ever to host an international game in the history of modern day football.
Before the game, players of the Nigerian team were asked to access the risk involved by reaching out to their respective teams on any possible injury that could arise from playing on a surface that isn’t good enough for professional football.
Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina was the first to be told not to risk his career on that pitch, after suffering an injury from playing in a bad pitch against South Africa in the world cup qualifiers. It kept him out for almost a year and it made him to mull international retirement.
Atletico Madrid also told Ademola Lookman not to play on a surface like that, but he persuaded them that he won’t play the entire duration of the game. However AC Milan completely shut out Samuel Chukwueze who was nursing a knock from playing in the game.
George Ilenikhena was told he is only permitted to play not more than 20 minutes by Al Ittihad, while Benjamin Fredrick wasn’t so lucky with Brentford clearly stating that a player who just returned from a long injury lay off shouldn’t be risked on a pitch like that.
Paris FC were also in contact with Moses Simon, who was nursing a back injury and they made it known that he can’t play more than 30 minutes in the game, so as not to aggravate the back pain.
The communications largely affected the plans of head coach Eric Chelle, who had to rejig his preferred starting lineup a few hours before the game due to players withdrawal.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
