Freshly invited Dutch born Nigerian full back Tyronne Ebuehi has rejected the immediate opportunity to commit his international future to Nigeria by insisting on improving his club form for ADO Den Haag.

Ebuehi was among the list of players called up by Nigeria for the World Cup 2018 qualifiers, but the 20 year old has turned down the invitation, although he didn’t rule out playing for Nigeria in the future.

Born to Nigerian parent in Holland, they are fears that the boy is under pressure from the Dutch football authorities to wait for his time with the Dutch national team instead of playing for Nigeria.

“I see it as a great honor that I am noted in my homeland,” says Ebuehi.

“But at this moment rADO Den Haag requires my full attention. Especially now that I am settled in the team. Therefore, it doesn’t seems to me like the right time to travel to Nigeria for the match. I want to focus completely on the club . but I certainly do not rule out playing for Nigeria in the future, if the next time am called up ” He told the club official website.

A member of the Nigeria U-17 World Cup winning team of 2015 is close to joining the rest of his colleagues in moving to Europe to further his career.

Players of the team were hot in demand due to the all round style which they used to conquer the world during the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile, with the likes of captain Kelechi Nwakali and Victor Osimhen moving to Arsenal and Wolfsburg respectively.

They formed the core of the Nigeria U-20 team that failed to qualify for the Africa youth championship next year, after losing 3-2 to Sudan in Lagos, to crash out on a 4-3 aggregate loss.

Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal that Hungarian top division side Ujpest have invited a member of that squad in Funsho Bamgboye for trials.

The Aspire Academy trainee will in the coming days travel to Budapest, where he will undergo trials with Ujpest and if successful will be registered by the club in January when the transfer window opens.

The one area of the Nigeria team where competition is at it peak is the central defence with about four players battling for the two available spots ahead of the game against Algeria.

Presently coach of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr has Leon Balogun, William Troost Ekong, Kenneth Omeruo and Uche Agbo in his list as central defenders for the November 12 tie.

In Rohr’s first game in charge Balogun played alongside Ekong in the 1-0 win against Tanzania, while Omeruo deputised for Balogun when he missed the clash against Zambia. The 2-1 win in Ndola.

Only Agbo is yet to be used by the manager, although the Granada of Spain midfielder cum defender impressed when he played against Plateau United in a test game before the Zambia game.

” We need to find a balance of understanding and experience against Algeria in central defence. We will pick in that regards. For now all the defenders in our list have equal chances of playing against Algeria”. He told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Ex England international Jamie Redknapp has unknowingly dropped a hint about how he would have preferred Nigerian forward Victor Moses to play for England instead of Nigeria.

Moses has been one of the high fliers for Chelsea this season, reinventing himself as a wingback, which has helped him established himself as a regular in the team.

He represented England at various youth level before switching allegiance to Nigeria at senior level, where he has won the Africa Cup of Nations and played at the 2014 World Cup.

However it appears Redknapp is still living in the days, when the Nigeria international represented England at U-17, 19 & 20 levels, judging by his comments after another fine perfomance from Moses for Chelsea against Southampton.

“It’s good to see a young English player doing well’ says Jamie Redknapp of the 25 year old Nigeria international.

Newly appointed coach of Algeria George Leekens has revealed his plans to keep the deadly Nigerian duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi at bay when Nigeria play Algeria in Uyo.

Leekens while speaking with Le Buteur said his team has defensive issues and playing against the deadly duo of Iheanacho and Iwobi , a defensive formation will be best.

The coach who recently left his spot as coach of Belgian side Lokeren plans to play two extra holding midfielder to nullify Iheanacho and Iwobi coming through the middle.

A 4-2-3-1 formation is what he plans to use against Nigeria, with specific instructions to the midfielder to release the ball as quick as they can to the deadly duo of Islam Slimani and Riyad Mahrez.

He believes if he stops them from playing, Nigeria will struggle to create anything meaningful in attack, while his team will aim to catch them on the break.

“The pressure does not scare me at all and I am motivated to succeed with the Greens. I can also say that I have a debt to the Algerian team,” Le Buteur quoted Leekens as saying on Sunday.

Former Nigeria youth international Olarenwaju Kayode is pushing for the attention of the coach of the Nigeria senior national team, with his performances for his Austrian side Austria Wien.

Kayode scored his 11th goal of the season in all competition, but his 5th in the league with the second goal for Austria Wien in their 2-0 win over Sturm Graz.

23 year old Kayode is well on course to score double digits league goals for the third consecutive season. But his goals have not been good enough in the mind of coaches of the Nigerian national team to earn him a call up.

However he is one of the players, the German manager of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr has penciled down for future invitation to the team when they play friendly games next year.

The forward line of the Super Eagles is loaded with options and the manager will only have time to try out other options in the proposed friendly games next year.

Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to ensure Nigeria pick all three points in their next World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Algeria in Uyo.

The German disciplinarian has to that effect introduced new camp rules, which he discussed with captain of the team John Obi Mikel when they met in London last week.

The rules were introduced to keep the players focus ahead of the game, as Rohr has not been comfortable with the conduct of some players in the build up to the games against Tanzania and Zambia.

Rohr’s first rule is the instituting of a deadline for the arrival of players, as no player who arrive after the 7th of November will be admitted in camp.

The move is to checkmate the excesses of players who will arrive Nigeria early but drive to camp few days to the game, with excuses about flight connections or family problems.

Also from now henceforth players will not be allowed to keep their personal car in the premises of the hotel where the team are camped, no thanks to the furore Ahmed Musa caused when he arrived camp for the Zambia clash in a flashy car.

Friends and family members will also not get access to the players unlike before, until after the game, a situation the manager frowned at when he noticed it’s like a tradition for friends to visit the players or even live in same hotel with them before games.

Russian top division side UFA had their Nigerian duo to thank as their goals helped them to a 2-0 win over away to Arsenal Tula.

Nigerian players have huge history with the Russian league with the likes of Ahmed Musa, Osaze Odemwingie, Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Obinna Nsofor all playing for various teams in the past.

UFA turned to their Nigerian duo of Sylvester Igboun and Kehinde Fatai and they didn’t disappoint, with goals in the 45th and 80th minute of play.

Kehinde who joined the club in the summer from Czech side Sparta Praha now has four goals from nine games, a sign of how well the former Nigeria youth international has settled into his new surrounding.

26 year old Igboun who is in his second spell with the club is halfway through to his last season tally of 4 goals from 25 games, with two to his name already from 12 games.

The inclusion of John Ogu in the Super Eagles list for their World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Algeria next month has generated a lot of discussion, because less than a month ago the manager Gernot Rohr ruled him out of his team.

Israeli based Ogu was included by the manager in his official list of players for the November 12th tie in Uyo, as exclusively confirmed by Owngoalnigeria.com three days ago.

Owngoalnigeria.com in it’s traditional style of going behind the scene to bring out hidden details can exclusively confirmed, that his inclusion was based on a particular game the manager watched.

Ogu won the manager over with his performances in Hapoel Be’er Sheva Europa League game against Sparta Praha of Czech Republic, even though his team lost 1-0.

Rohr was impressed by the way he stuck to his role as the screen of the defensive and his passing range, which is usually something the coach loves to see in his players.

His instinct to hit forward passes and not sideways or backwards like Anderson Esiti of Gent who was axed for the 28 year old, gave him the edge to be called up.

However, he still has a whole lot of work to do if he is to displace the manager’s preferred midfield duo of Mikel Obi and Eddy Onazi, particularly Onazi who has more or less personalised the team defensive midfield position the last two years.

The reason behind the late omission of Victor Osimhen from the Super Eagles team for the November 12 game against Algeria has been unraveled by Owngoalnigeria.com.

Osimhen was handed a call up by manager Gernot Rohr after a meeting with Watford Isacc Success who confirmed that he won’t be available for the tie against Algeria, due to fitness issues.

Rohr called up Osimhen, who is now in Germany where he has joined Wolfsburg ahead of his first team debut for the team, when he completes 18 next year.

His German club Wolfsburg stopped him from honouring the call, as his visa is a single entry six months visa which will run till when he turns 18 and become eligible to apply for a work permit.

If he travels out of Germany, a fresh application process will have to start for him and it could take months before he gets his passport, which could hinder the plans of the club for him.