Head coach of Enyimba Football club Finidi George has laid the blame on the poor performance of the club on the new management team led by Kanu Nwankwo, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Kanu was appointed by governor Alex Otti as the new head of the team replacing Felix Anyasi who was there for over 20 years, the turnaround expected from his appointment hasn’t been seen with the team struggling in domestic and continental games.

In the Africa Super League, they were humiliated 4-0 on aggregate losing the first leg 0-1 at home before getting thrashed 3-0 away from home. A scoreline that made many to question the technical capacity of Finidi who led the team to the league title last season.

In an explosive interview, the former Ajax and Nigeria international winger called out the management of the team led by his former teammate at club and national level Kanu for their ineptitude.

Below is an extract from the interview as written by D-Pathwaysports Ptw Doherty.

“After the first leg, they dropped some players from travelling for the second leg in Casablanca, claiming that they couldn’t get them visas. We had to protest strongly before it was rectified. We later found out that there was more to it.

“Can you imagine that we went for such a game without the goalkeeping and fitness coaches? Myself and Yema were the only coaches that travelled for that game. That is very strange to me.

“Everyone has to put the interest of the club first because until this is done, we would only be joking.”

“We arrived at Uyo on October 17 with the idea to have as many training sessions as possible on the grass pitch in Uyo since we are more used to our synthetic pitch. But we couldn’t really achieve that because the management failed to make the right arrangements with the stadium authorities. As a result, we improvised and had one of our training sessions at a primary school, while another training session was cut short because of the same poor arrangements.

“In fact, we played a team that was more used to the playing surface than us, the home team. It was obvious that we were at a disadvantage as a team used to artificial pitches and this really affected us.

“Also, we had only three trainings with the AFL match ball, meanwhile, our opponents had enough time to get used to it. That was why you could see my players struggling with their control, passing and shooting.”

“It is sad to see such statements being released when all hands should be on deck and things should be more organized to enable a positive environment for all. Yes, there have been issues, but I remained patient because I believed that we could harmonise efforts and work things out; but here we are.

“The issue with the team is obvious, and it has nothing to do with the coaches. The same coaches won the league with less goals conceded and the highest goal scored. We won the best Super 6 ever organized, scored the highest and conceded the least number of goals,”

The decision of head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro to keep Francis Uzoho as his first choice goalkeeper hasn’t gone down well with some players in the team, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Uzoho hasn’t been at his best lately for the senior national team of Nigeria with two high profile errors in the test games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.

Prior to the games, it was his error that cost Nigeria a spot at the 2022 world cup in Qatar, when he let a weak shot from Thomas Partey to beat him for the goal that gave Ghana the lead and also the platform to qualify on away goals rule.

Despite the costly errors , Peseiro is still adamant that the Omonia Nicosia shot stopper has what it takes to be the first choice, and will be in goal against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively when they begin the quest to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

” Personally I know some of the players feel he has been treated differently. The other goalkeepers haven’t been given a fair chance to push for his spot especially Leye ( Adebayo Adeleye). He is doing very well in Israel and even did well away to Sierra Leone but still dropped to the bench for a goalkeeper who has kept more matches for Nigeria than for his team in Cyprus”, a member of the backroom staff told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” The thinking is that if an outfield player can be kept out of the team for poor performance why not Uzoho. There is no competition and that hasn’t helped him”.

Ade Emmanuel

Bayer Leverkusen winger Nathan Tella is prime to join his teammate Victor Boniface in the senior national team of Nigeria when they begin the quest to reach the 2026 World Cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Born in England to parents of Nigerian descent, Tella who hasn’t been capped at any level by both countries moved to the Bundesliga table toppers in the summer from English Championship side Southampton.

He made the move after an extra ordinary performance while on loan to Burnley, he played a huge part in their promotion to the English Premier League with 19 goals and five assists in 45 games in all competitions.

Although he is yet to hit the same height with Leverkusen with just a goal to his name from eight games, the 24 year old is the first choice pick of coach of the Nigerian team with doubts over the availability of Ahmed Musa who was supposed to be back in the team especially with Chukwueze out injured.

Musa suffered a relapse upon his return from a two months lay off leaving him in a race against time to be fit for the first two games of the 2026 world cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively.

Tella who is traditionally a right winger will get his first call up per what we exclusively gathered with talks already held with Peseiro. He has also gotten his Nigerian passport paving the way for him to play for the team.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Antwerp of Belgium midfielder Alhassan Yusuf has been assured that he has a future in the senior national team of Nigeria as long as he continues to impress, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

The assurance was given to the 23 year old by head coach of the Nigerian team Jose Peseiro after watching his impressive showing for Antwerp in the Uefa Champions League defeat to FC Porto.

Yusuf scored the only goal in the 1-3 loss suffered by his team and kept his spot for the Belgium champions in their 1-2 loss to Club Brugge yesterday in a Belgium top division game.

Peseiro spoke with him after the game against Porto and could hand him an instant call up in November when the race to be at the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, the USA and Canada begins in November.

Yusuf is seen by the manager as a like for like replacement for Wilfred Ndidi, who is currently battling to be fit for the games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively. Coach of Leicester City Enzo Maresca hasn’t given a timeline for his return.

Ndidi who now plays in an advanced midfield role for both club and country is suffering from a muscle problem and it has already kept him out od the games against Sunderland and QPR.

“The only one is Wilf,” the 43-year-old revealed in his pre-match press conference. “That looks a bit more than tiredness as we thought at the beginning, so he probably has to stay out some days or weeks.

“It’s not an important problem, just a muscular problem that we thought was not important. It’s not big, but I think at least for some days or weeks he going to be out”, Maresca said on the state of his injury.

Osas Mahawi

Nigeria international forward Taiwo Awoniyi has revealed the role Egyptian striker Mohammed Salah played in his decision to leave Liverpool permanently three years ago, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Awoniyi spent six years on the books of Liverpool without making a single first team appearance. The Reds would sell Awoniyi to Union Berlin in a £6.5m deal in July 2021, following a succession of loans in Germany, Holland and Belgium.

He spent only one year with Union Berlin and scored 20 goals in 43 appearances for the German outfit, he would complete a £17m move to Nottingham Forest, where he presently has 13 premier league goals from 43 games including a spell where he scored in seven consecutive games.

Last season he scored the winner for Forest against Liverpool, but he missed yesterday’s 0-3 loss to his former side, no thanks to the same groin injury that has kept him out of action for the past three weeks.

“It’s been a long journey!” he said. “Last season playing at Anfield was a dream come true,” he said. “Of course I probably dreamed of playing there for Liverpool before I left, so playing there against them, it was a mixed feeling, I would say.”

Although he didn’t make an appearance for the first team, he referenced training with the team during their pre season tour as the reason behind his decision to leave, which he said wasn’t an easy one to make but he had to leave because of the players ahead of him particularly Salah, who is still at the club unlike the duo of Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.

“The training sessions, wow! I knew that this is the kind of training that you win something from!” Awoniyi told Livepoolfc.com. “You don’t train like that and then at the end of the season you get nothing.

“For me as a player, that was the kind of environment I had always wanted. But in life sometimes you have to make tough decisions, and I knew for me that I needed to go and play every week.

“You look at the time, there was Salah, Mane, Firmino and others. I knew the chances (to play) were very, very slim. I knew I needed to get to a place where I was playing every week. It was hard (to leave), but it was a decision I had to make.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

31 year old Jonathan Rasheed did his chances of a first time call up to the senior national team of Nigeria a whole lot of good with a string of saves as his team Värnamo ran out 3-1 winners against Kalmar in the Sweden top division, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Balogun stood between Kalmar and a goal but finally conceded in the 70th minute but with his team already 3-0 up. He still pulled another magnificent save towards the end of the game to deny the visitors a second goal, which would have set up a frenetic end to the game.

His performance will no doubt increase the calls for his inclusion in the senior national team of Nigeria with the goalkeepers crisis currently rocking the team. Only Adebayo Adeleye has enjoyed regular run of games among the three senior goalkeepers in the team, but he still doesn’t have the trust of the coach Jose Peseiro.

The duo of Francis Uzoho and Maduka Okoye are yet to play a game this season, and the rustiness is already telling on Uzoho who made two high profile errors in the recent games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.

Rasheed who was born in Sweden to Nigerian parents hasn’t hidden his desire to play for the Super Eagles. His name is said to have been passed on to Peseiro for proper scouting and on this strength of yesterday’s game he has done his chances a whole lot of good.

Damian Waziri

The former coach of the Nigeria U17 team Manu Garba has detailed the role he played in the discovery of emerging Super Eagles left back Bruno Onyemaechi, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Bruno has played as the first choice left back of the Nigerian team in their last three games largely due to the absence of regular left back Zaidu Sanusi of FC Porto.

With Sanusi still out injured, the Boavista defender is expected to keep his spot for the start of the world cup qualifiers, where Nigeria will take on Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively in their opening two games of the series.

Speaking on the left back, Manu said he first sighted him in his U17 camp in 2017 and back then he was playing a role just behind the main striker and not as a left back. He said he even picked him as his captain.

” I remember him (Bruno) as a member of my 2017 U17 team. He was playing in a role behind the striker and he reminded me so much of Kelechi Iheanacho that I even told Iheanacho when he visited us in camp. Onyeama like we call him back then was very good at shooting and also link up play very well . I named him my captain”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” He (Bruno) plays as a left back now but you can see that he won’t be lost further up the pitch. Like Igho Ogbu at Slavia Prague, Tolu Arokodare at Genk and Adebayo Adeleye of Hapoel Jerusalem, they were all in that my team of 2017″, he concluded.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has made it known to all federations whose team will be participating at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire next year on the number of players they are allowed to bring to the tournament next year, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

CAF allowed teams to name a sqaud of 28 players for the last AFCON but with the provision that only 23 of the players will be named in the matchday squad. They have now amended that requirement.

Via a letter to all federations, CAF made it clear that teams are only permitted to name a squad of 23 players for the tournament with at least two as goalkeepers. They will however be allowed to name a provisional squad of 55 players from which the final 23 will be picked.

This format will no doubt heap more pressure on the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro, who is already facing a dilemma on the forwards he will name to compliment the first choice striker of the team Victor Osimhen.

The headache for the Portuguese will be who he will pick among the quartet of Taiwo Awoniyi, Terem Moffi, Sadiq Umar and Victor Boniface.

For now Boniface is likely to seal a spot leaving the three others mentioned above battling for one slot available for the role of the top striker.

Ade Emmanuel

Head coach of the senior national team of Austria Ralf Ragnick has assured LASK shot stopper Tobias Lawal that he is in his plans hence shouldn’t consider the option of playing for Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Lawal is eligible for both countries as he was born to a Nigerian father and an Austrian mother. He trained with the senior national team of Nigeria three years ago but issues surrounding dual citizenship in Austria made him to leave the camp.

Former coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr who handed him the call up back then explained that they were told that he will have to give up his Austrian passport, before he can get a Nigerian passport.

However recent check by veteran Nigerian journalist Osasu Obayiuwuna shows that the 23 year old can indeed play for Nigeria. He posted his finding on social media platform X.

“Lawal obtained his Nigerian and Austrian citizenships by birth. Austrian law permits the retention of both nationalities under such circumstances. It is only acquiring another citizenship through naturalization, as Schwarzenegger did, that is prohibited. Whether they were aware of this when he left the Super Eagles camp or not, I cannot say, but that’s the reason he didn’t play for Nigeria”, he posted.

The information has no doubt opened the door for Lawal who has risen to the role of first choice goalkeeper at LASK in their league games and also Europa League. Yesterday he was in goal for the entirety of their 1-2 loss to Belgium side Union Saint-Gilloise.

His recent run of games puts him in pole position to solve the Super Eagles goalkeeper crisis especially with the recent revelation made by Osasu. But the major stumbling block is Ragnick, the former coach of English Premier League side Manchester United.

” I know he was called up to be a part of a training camp last year by the coach. He has already assured him of his spot in his team and last week we woke up to news of his call up to the senior national team when they converge for the next international break. Ragnick is aware that he is eligible for Nigeria and has told him to shun the idea and focus on Austria”, Morgan Douglas an Austria based journalist told OwngoalNigeria.com.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The reason behind the decision of Cardiff City defender Jamilu Collins to snub an invitation to the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of their games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively has been revealed by the player.

Collins was handed his second consecutive call up by Jose Peseiro for the friendly games, his second following his maiden invitation under the Portuguese coach for the game against Sao Tome and Principe in Uyo.

Boavista Bruno Onyemaechi got the nod to play ahead of him and impressed for the entire duration of the game, but Collins was handed another chance to fight for a spot but he declined the call up on the advice of his coach at the Championship side.

“Me not going to the national team was for my own self,” he told a press conference ahead of Cardiff City Sky Bet Championship clash against Swansea.

“I’ve been out for a long time and the gaffer told me not to because he wants me to rest due to the issues with my hamstring. I think the advice was the right one for me.

“I just play and if the national team coach is impressed with the performance, he will stick with me”, the 29 year old said.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman