The career of one of Nigeria’s strikers at the 2018 World Cup in Russia has received a huge lift from the coach of Italian Serie A side Salernitana  ahead of their game against Sassuolo, OwnGoalNigeria.comreports.

Filippo Inzaghi while speaking in the press conference ahead of their game against Sassuolo confirmed that 31 year old Nigerian striker Simy Nwankwo is back in the matchday squad for a league game for the first time this season.

Simy worked his way back into the plans of the coach and was rewarded with his first appearance of the season in their 4-0 Coppa Italia win over Sampdoria. He played the final 25 minutes of the game.

Inzaghi said he is now back in the squad for a league game and will likely play some parts tomorrow, but he said the fans shouldn’t expect a miracle and they should give him a second chance to impress at the club with the injury to  Jovane Cabral.

“First of all, I’m sorry about Cabral ‘s injury . I’m happy for Simy , he was an example for the group and earned this chance training after training. We need him in that role. Let’s not expect miracles but the player who enchanted him can return everyone until recently. The man deserves this second opportunity, even before the player”, he said while speaking on the forward who is the all time top scorer of Italian side Crotone.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has made a bold revelation about one of the first choice wingers of the team as they set for the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nigeria will begin the race to make amends for missing out on the last world cup by hosting Lesotho in Uyo, before travelling for their first away game against Zimbabwe at their adopted home ground in the Rwandan city of Kigali.

Blessed with an array of options in attack and on the flanks, Peseiro has constantly rotated his options on the wings with the quartet of Moses Simon, Samuel Chukwueze and more recently Kelechi Iheanacho his preferred options on the flanks.

He has however hinted that Lookman could be handed a different role in the coming days with his statement that the former England youth international is more comfortable as a second striker than on the flanks, where he has played in all of his ten caps for the senior national team of Nigeria.

” Lookman is in a great moment, which I hope he maintains until the end to be able to do even better than last season , which was of a great level. He plays well both as a striker and as a second striker, but I think he can better express his skills as a second striker”, he said in an interview on Italian publication Fantacalcio.it.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

As the senior national team of Nigeria get set to begin their campaign in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers on the 16th of November when they take on Lesotho in Uyo, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

The team will travel to Kigali, where they will take on Zimbabwe at their adopted home ground on the 19th of November in what will be their second group games in the qualifiers series.

Led by head coach Jose Peseiro, the team has been given the target of getting to at least the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, which will take place next year in Cote d’Ivoire. A target which has drawn reactions from a host of people.

Speaking on the team, former Super Eagles goalkeeper Ndubuisi Egbo said the team isn’t the same like it was in the past in terms of players quality, saying that past teams had more quality players than the present one.

He however singled out the duo of Victor Osimhen at Napoli and Victor Boniface at Bayer Leverkusen as the only two players who are currently playing at a high level.

“In contrast to the past now you can mention only a few Nigerian players who play in Europe like Victor Osimhen or Victor Boniface. The others simply do not play in strong teams”, he told Tribalfootball.com.

“During my time we had players playing for teams like Arsenal, PSG, Chelsea, etc. This also will impact on the performances of our national team. We have only two players like Osimhen and Boniface who are playing regularly and doing a great job with Napoli and Bayern Leverkusen.”

Osas Mahawi

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) alongside head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro are putting their efforts to bring an end to the goalkeeper crisis rocking the team, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Ahead of next year’s Africa Cup of Nations all three senior goalkeepers of the senior national team of Nigeria don’t have the total trust of the coach to be first choice as they all have been guilty of dropping howlers when called upon.

For now Francis Uzoho has the faith of the coach but his lack of game time at Cyprus side Omonia Nicosia is a huge concern, the same situation that ex number one Maduka Okoye is facing at Udinese.

Adebayo who is the only one who enjoys regular run of games in Israel with Hapoel Jerusalem don’t seem to have the faith of the coach, and it has prompted a search for other options.

One of the players is on loan Arsenal goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, his progress is one that has been tracked by Peseiro and now head on the technical department of the NFF Austine Eguavoen has joined in his pursuit.

Okonkwo returned to Arsenal after a hugely successful loan spell in Austria with Sturm Graz, but with no chance of getting regular games he was shipped out on loan again but this time around to League Two side Wrexham.

The 22 year old hasn’t looked out of place and this has reignited Nigeria’s interest in luring him from England where he is a junior international, already a meeting has been scheduled with Eguavoen and the player has already gotten a Nigerian passport in preparation for the move.

He is expected to officially apply for a switch of nationality after the talks with Peseiro and Eguavoen, hopefully it will be sorted before next year when the Africa Cup of Nations begins.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Former Nigeria international goalkeeper Ndubuisi Egbo has faulted the manner which head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has handled the crisis rocking the team in the area of goalkeepers.

Egbo who had 12 caps for Nigeria and also attended two Africa Cup of Nations still holds the honour of the only Nigerian coach to have won a title with an European country, when he guided FK Tirana to the Albanian league title three years ago.

Now working as head coach of Kosovo top league side FC Prishtina, the 50 year old coach gave his opinion on the goalkeepers of the Super Eagles team as they prepare to start the qualifiers for the 2026 world cup and also compete in next year Africa Cup of Nations.

With the trio of Francis Uzoho, Adebayo Adeleye and Maduka Okoye not covering themselves in glory when handed a role between the sticks, Egbo said the coach Peseiro hasn’t helped himself by not settling for one of the trio.

“There are many good young goalkeepers and that’s the difficulty facing coaches to pin point one goalkeeper or the other. We have seen the in the past year or two they have used in the national team 3-4 goalkeepers in different matches and in my opinion its not a good thing”, the former Julius Berger shot stopper told Tribalfootball.com.

“For me the goalkeeping department is not like the other departments where you can change players frequently. I think an opportunity should be given to one goalkeeper so he can gain experience playing for the national team. Because playing for the national team is different to playing for a club team. When you play for the national team you have on your shoulders the eyes of the entire population.”

Meanwhile in another related development, Peseiro has confirmed that Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye who returned to the team for the last round of game is back in contention for the Africa Cup of Nations. He made this known in an interview monitored by our editorial team.

When asked during an interview with Sportitalia (via TMW) whether he would take Okoye and Empoli defender Tyronne Ebuehi to the Africa Cup of Nations, the Portuguese gaffer responded: “They belong to the group of players we follow and are part of the list of those we normally call.

“This way, they can participate in any competition the Super Eagles play in.”

Osas Mahawi

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has selected the four players who will lead the attack of the senior national team of Nigeria in the world cup qualifiers, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively report.

Nigeria will begin their quest to be at the 2026 World Cup by taking on Lesotho and Zimbabwe on the 16th and 19th of November respectively. They will prosecute both games without the services of their top striker Victor Osimhen who is out injured.

In his absence Peseiro has selected four players for the top striker’s role and it will be made public when the list of players for the game is unveiled later today. The coach is keen on maintaining his preferred two man option in attack.

He picked the quarter of Victor Boniface, Taiwo Awoniyi, Sadiq Umar and Terem Moffi to lead the charge for goals in both games with the trio of Gift Orban, Jerome Akor and Paul Onuachu on standby in the event that any of the four isn’t available for the game.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro will hand Montpellier striker Jerome Akor a chance to fight for a spot in the Super Eagles attack, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The former Nigeria U20 striker has been in red hot form for the Ligue 1 side with seven goals in ten games following his summer move from Norwegian side Lillestrom.

His form has caught the attention of Peseiro, who is lining him up for a chance in the Super Eagles despite having an embarrassment of riches in attack.

Akor is high on the list of players tracked by the Portuguese coach, but we can’t confirm if an instant invitation for the upcoming world cup qualifiers is in the offing. He is seen like an option for future games.

Sources however said he could gatecrashe the sqaud for the games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe with current top striker Victor Osimhen out injured. He will likely be the 24th player in the list if he is called up.

Osas Mahawi

The international future of Gent of Belgium free scoring striker Gift Orban has been settled in favour of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Orban was handed a first time call up to the senior national team of Nigeria after ending last season with 20 goals from 22 games, following his move to the Belgium side from second division Norwegian side Stabæk.

He was listed among the players for the team’s last AFCON qualifiers game against Sao Tome and Principe, however he failed to make the matchday squad for the game with head coach Jose Peseiro sighting a knock he picked up in training.

Sources however debunked the claims made by the coach by revealing that confusion over his nationality led to the decision to exclude him from the matchday squad for the game. It was said that he is a Togolese with no connection to Nigeria.

Togo went further to claim that he played for their B team with a different name and identity three years ago. Documents to back their claims were forwarded to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The 21 year old strongly denied having anything to do with Togo, emphatically stating that he is a Nigerian and his father hails from Benue state in Nigeria. The NFF however told Peseiro to leave him out of the team until the issue is sorted.

It appears to have been settled in his favor with sources in the NFF confirming that he is now free to play for the Super Eagles if called up by head coach Jose Peseiro.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Former captain of the senior national team of Nigeria John Obi Mikel says he is open to the idea of returning to the team, four years after announcing his decision to quit international football and one year after he quit active football.

Mikel played 91 games for the senior national team of Nigeria making the step up from the U17 through the U20 before reaching senior level. He also represented the U23 team as one of the overaged players at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.

A veteran of two world cups and four AFCON tournaments, one of which the team won in 2013 , he decided to quit international football after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt bringing to an end a 14 year spell with the Super Eagles.

On 27 September 2022, Mikel announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 35.He has since launched a podcast of his own where he gives his opinion on recent happenings in football as well as sharing some of his experiences during his active days.

Asked about a potential return to the Super Eagles in a different capacity with the team set to begin the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, and also the next Africa Cup of Nations he said it’s an idea he will love to experience.

” Getting involved in a backroom role is something that I think I will love. The transformation from the pitch to the technical bench is something that fascinates me and if the opportunity comes from Nigeria, I will be open to help play a part in the success of the team”, he said.

Osas Mahawi

The list of players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria for their World Cup qualifiers games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively will be made public in the next 72 hours, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Head coach of the team Jose Peseiro has trimmed the list of invited players to 23 from his provisional list of 35 players, who were sent invitation letters two weeks ago.

As we exclusively reported last week Bayer Leverkusen winger Nathan Tella has been handed a first time call up to the senior national team of Nigeria, as he survived the trimming down of the list.

He is the only new name in the list that we can confirm has been included in the final squad for the game. We still don’t know if Chuba Akpom of Ajax and Stanley Nwabali of Chippa United who were on the provisional list made the cut.

Meanwhile, Sadiq Umar of LaLiga side Real Sociedad and Chidozie Awaziem of Boavista made the cut for a competitive game for the first time in over a year after returning to the fold during the last international break.

They were both called up as late replacements ahead of the test games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman