The push to be in the sqaud of the senior national team of Nigeria for the Africa Cup of Nations is one that will be heated in the area of attack.

Presently about three strikers are battling for one remaining spots in the attack of the team with Victor Osimhen, Victor Boniface and Sadiq Umar sure to be at the tournament next year in Cote d’Ivoire.

It leaves the like of like Terem Moffi, Paul Onuachu and Gift Orban in straight fight for the spot but another name has been added to the mix in Rangers of Scotland forward Cyriel Dessers.

Dessers did his chances of gate crashing the team a whole lot of good with an assist and a well taken solo goal in his team’s 3-2 win away to Spanish side Real Betis in the Europa League.

The goal was his first of the tournament but his six in all competitions, a remarkable return after his slow start to life at the Scottish side that he joined in the summer from relegated Italian Serie A side Cremonense.

Earlier this month, Dessers who has four senior caps for Nigeria and a goal spoke about his eagerness to be in the Super Eagles squad for the AFCON, and that goal against Real Betis will no doubt put him in the frame to stake a claim in the eyes of head coach Jose Peseiro.

“The last few times I was in the Nigeria pre-selection squad, but not in the final selection. If you look at the other strikers and the form that they are in, I can understand that,” Dessers was quoted by the Daily Record.

“We have a few players competing to be the third or fourth striker and then it depends on form. The competition in Nigeria is absurd. I could have chosen to play for Belgium, but I am very happy with my choice.

“I have already experienced fantastic moments. My first international goal, in front of a hundred thousand spectators against Mexico in Dallas, is a moment I will never forget.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has submitted the provisional list of players who will represent the senior national team of Nigeria at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Tournament organisers which is the Confederation of African football (CAF) made it mandatory for all teams to submit a provisional list of around players at least a month to the tournament. It is from the list that a final 27 will be picked for the tournament.

Peseiro’s list has been forwarded to CAF ahead of today’s deadline and sources privy to the names on the list confirmed that five new players were handed a first time spot in the list.

The five players we gathered include goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali of Chippa United, Jerome Akor of Ligue 1 side Montpellier, Chuba Akpom of Ajax  and Onuche Ogbelu of Tunisian side Esperance and Alhassan Yusuf of Belgium side Antwerp.

It will however be trimmed to 33 players before the team begin their camping for the tournament in the UAE on the 1st of January just like we exclusively reported yesterday.

Osas Mahawi

Head coach of English Championship side Leicester City Enzo Maresca has allayed fears on why Kelechi Iheanacho wasn’t listed in their last two consecutive games, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

The Nigerian hasn’t been able to add to his goal count of five in 18 games so far this season for the high flying side as he hasn’t been involved in the 4-0 win over Plymouth Argyle and yesterday’s 3-2 win over Millwall.

Both results achieved without the Nigerian ensured that they stay on top the table but ahead of the game against Birmingham on Monday, Maresca confirmed that the 27 year old will be fit for the game as he has recovered fully from the illness that kept him out of the last two consecutive games.

“Jamie (Vardy), I think he needs some days,” Maresca said after Wednesday’s victory. “Kele is alright, he can be for the next one.

“Yunus (Akgun) could be for the next one or not. Callum (Doyle) is very close. Harry (Winks) was ill, so he can be fine for the next one. Marc Albrighton had a kick in his knee, so we don’t know for Monday. Probably for Monday, the only one is Kele. The rest are going to struggle.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has fired a barb at those who criticised his decision to hand newly crowned Africa footballer of the Year Victor Osimhen a call up to the team at the age of 17.

Fresh from firing Nigeria to world cup glory at the 2015 U17 with 12 goals, Rohr who was appointed as the coach of the Super Eagles around that time wasted no time in handing him a call up to the team.

Back then his decision was met with criticisms with many saying the then 17 year old Osimhen should be allowed to progress through the ranks and not just jump to the senior team. As at that time he was yet to play a single minute of professional football.

Rohr recalls with nostalgia in an interview with Nations Sport, how his decision took a lot of people by surprise, saying it is the first step towards the rise of the Napoli forward to where he is now.

“He was 17 when I first saw him and drafted him to the Super Eagles in my very first match with Tanzania and a lot of people were surprised. Again, many were also surprised when I took him to the 2019 AFCON in Egypt, but he showed later all the qualities he has.

“This boy is still the same: humble, working hard, and staying always modest, which is a good sign for a big player (desirous to be the greatest).”

Ade Emmanuel.

The head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has been told by one of his players to resist the urge of playing Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman in attack whenever Victor Osimhen plays, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Lookman hasn’t lived up to his form in the colours of the Super Eagles with his only goals (2) and assist (1) coming in the two games against minnows Sao Tome and Principe in the AFCON qualifiers.

Ahead of the tournament proper , a player in the team has advised the coach to either play the 26 year old in the role behind the striker like he plays at Atalanta, or drop him to the bench especially if Osimhen is in the team.

” Playing Lookman wide isn’t working particularly as he drifts into the space Osimhen likes to take around the box. That is his natural instinct as a support striker at Atalanta. If he can’t play in that role for us then no need to play him wide on the left because it won’t work”, a player of the team said while reacting to our story on why the former Everton forward isn’t prolific for the Super Eagles.

He said the best pairing for Osimhen in the attack of the team is Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City but shockingly he is now Peseiro’s favourite playing from the right.

” Iheanacho is the guy we all think can compliment Osimhen in attack. But in the past few games he now plays as a right winger maybe that will change when Samuel Chukwueze plays”.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

One of the players of Antwerp that got a mention by the head coach of Barcelona after their shock 2-3 loss to the Belgium side in the UEFA Champions League was Nigerian midfielder Alhassan Yusuf.

Xavi gave particular praise to the midfielder for his role in the first and third goal scored by the Belgium side not to mention the fact that he also grabbed an assist in the game, which was their first win in the tournament.

” When you see how we conceded the first goals it’s the same like the third. Where a press is on by the same player (Alhassan Yusuf). We didn’t command the ball properly and losing it in that manner around our box opens the door to be punished”, he said after the game.

Yusuf who was on target against FC Porto in the same tournament has surprisingly not been given a chance with the senior national team of Nigeria. He has thrice been handed provisional invitation but missed out on the final list of players for the games in question.

He was first called up for the friendlies against Mexico and Ecuador respectively in May last year, but failed to make it to the USA due to visa hitch. It was the first set of games the team will play under the new coach Jose Peseiro.

Peseiro handed him another invitation for the friendly game against Algeria but he was a shock omission from the final list of players for the sqaud for the game.

His rise from the little boy who was scouted while playing in the Tika-Taka tournament in Abuja to IFK Goteborg of Sweden and later Antwerp, where he won the league last season his rise has been phenomenal.

A Super Eagles call up is still what the 24 year old is yet to achieve with sources close to Peseiro saying he isn’t quite convinced about the Kano state born midfielder because of his height. He stands at around five feet tall, making him the shortest among all players in his role available to the coach.

However all of those won’t matter if he continues to drop impressive performances like yesterday. Already many in Belgium have likened him to the closest thing to France midfield star N’golo Kante.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The current head coach of the senior national team of Gambia Tom Saintfiet has voiced out his dream of handling the senior national team of Nigeria in the event that present head coach of the team is relieved of his job, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively report.

Saintfiet is from what we gathered the favorite of the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ibrahim Musa Gusau in the event that the football house decides to hire a foreign coach for the team.

Reacting to the news, the coach who was a nominee for the award of the coach of the year at the recently concluded CAF awards said no one has contacted him yet, but if they do he is open to the idea of handling the team.

Saintfeit has twice missed out on the chance to handle the Super Eagles due to circumstances other than competence, but despite that he still referred to the job as his dream job in a chat made available to OwnGoalNigeria.com.

He went as far as saying he is willing to take way less than the $50,000 present coach Peseiro is earning, because of the fact that coaching the team is one of his lifetime ambition.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has submitted the provisional list of players who will represent the senior national team of Nigeria at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Tournament organisers which is the Confederation of African football (CAF) made it mandatory for all teams to submit a provisional list of around players at least a month to the tournament. It is from the list that a final 27 will be picked for the tournament.

Peseiro’s list has been forwarded to CAF ahead of today’s deadline and sources privy to the names on the list confirmed that five new players were handed a first time spot in the list.

The five players we gathered include goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali of Chippa United, Jerome Akor of Ligue 1 side Montpellier, Chuba Akpom of Ajax  and Onuche Ogbelu of Tunisian side Esperance.

It will however be trimmed to 33 players before the team begin their camping for the tournament in the UAE on the 1st of January just like we exclusively reported yesterday.

Osas Mahawi

The heavily criticised first choice goalkeeper of the senior national team of Nigeria Francis Uzoho is bracing up for the battle to retain his number one spot ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

Uzoho has been under-fire from the media and fans of the national team for his poor performances in recent games, which has seen him make high profile errors that have cost the team goals in recent games.

His erratic form made head coach Jose Peseiro to approach Chippa United goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, who he sees as an option to the Omonia Nicosia shot stopper with the Africa Cup of Nations around the corner.

However Uzoho isn’t willing to let go of his number one spot without a fight and over the weekend in his first start for Omonia Nicosia in the league, he was voted the man of the match in their 2-0 win over Nea Salami.

He made four big saves in the game and after the game he was surrounded by his teammates who were full of praises for the way he kept them in the game with saves after saves.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

22 year old forward Joshua Zirkzee is one of the players who have taken the Italian Serie A by storm this season with seven goals and two assists in 14 games, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Zirkzee has experienced a turnaround in his career after a forgettable two years experience, where he went from one of the highly rated teen stars at Bayern Munich to loan spells which yielded nothing spectaculars.

However under Thiago Motta, he has found the sort of form that many envisaged when he broke onto the scene as a 17 year old four years ago at Bayern Munich.

Bologna signed Zirkzee from Bayern Munich 18 months ago and he cost them €8.5 million as well as 35% on any future capital gain. One other condition is that Bayern have the right to match future offers for Zirkzee should they want to bring him back.

As things currently stand, Bologna would need to receive a bid of €40m for them to sit at the table. He is a player that both Napoli and Milan are thinking seriously about for next season.

Born to a Nigerian father, his senior international future was expected to spark a tug of war as he is eligible for both Nigeria and the Netherlands. But it looks like that won’t be the case with the forward who was once approached to play for Nigeria by erstwhile coach Gernot Rohr.

He has only one national team in his head at the moment and it is the Dutch national team, the team that he has represented at various youth levels, effectively ruling himself out as an option for the senior national team of Nigeria at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

Ade Emmanuel