The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has launched an investigation into the conduct of two senior players of the team over their act of Indiscipline during the last round of international games, where the team engaged Guinea Bissau in back to back AFCON qualifiers games.

OGN exclusively gathered that the portion of the communique released by the NFF which centered on players commitment to the team is targeted at two players who were part of team for the last round of games.

They were accused of arriving Nigeria early but instead of joining their teammates in camp, they stayed behind in Lagos partying at various night clubs before arriving the camp of the team on Tuesday ahead of the game in Abuja on Friday.

Despite taking part in one and half training session as the floodlights went off during the first day they trained with the team , the duo were surprisingly included in the team that started the game against Guinea Bissau in Abuja, which Nigeria lost 0-1 at home.

One of the players was subbed off and he immediately changed into his normal clothes instead of the team’s official wear. He sat behind the bench and was on his phone for the remainder of the game, showing no interest in the game.

The other player lasted longer and started the next game where he was judged as one of the worst players on the pitch for Nigeria. Some even said over both legs he played well below the standard he shows when he plays for his team.

Pressure is now on head coach of the team Jose Peseiro to drop both players from his subsequent squads. Furthermore he has been accused of favouritism towards the duo who he still see as a one of the senior players in his team despite their misconduct.

Mohammed Mowiz

The decision by CAF to amend the policy on the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test was seen by many as a way back for four key midfielders of the Nigeria U17 team to get a way back into the team for the U17 Africa Cup of Nations.

CAF amended the rule by saying teams won’t be disqualified from the tournament unless four or more of their players fail the test which is meant to curb the menace of age cheats in African youth football. Nigeria already sent home four players after conducting their own test.

Largely affected was the midfield of the team with key players on grade 5, a step below what is agreed by CAF but the NFF pegged that of Nigeria at 4. The move is due to the fact that players on grade 4 won’t be above 6 even if they end up with more growth between now and then. Something that isn’t guarantee with players on grade 5.

Following reprieve by CAF, the technical crew approached the NFF to at least include two of the players but their appeal was rejected by the NFF. They are however adamant that they will include the players in their world cup team if they progress from the AFCON.

Furthermore, the much talked about training camp in Germany has been aborted and move are underway to have the team spend a week in Morocco before the start of the tournament in Algeria at the end of the month.

Damian Waziri

As many as six senior players of the senior national team of Nigeria have kicked against the much talked about negative vibes around the future of the coach of the team Jose Peseiro, whose contract will expire in June.

Peseiro’s one year stay as coach hasn’t been a success story so far with just three wins in nine games under a period of one year. Heavy 0-4 loss against Portugal in a friendly game and also 0-1 loss at home to Guinea Bissau in the AFCON qualifiers increased the calls for his sacking.

His $70,000 a year deal is supposed to run for an initial period of one year with the AFCON as the determinant on if he will get an extension or not. However the postponement of the tournament which he has been tasked to win to guarantee an automatic extension has brought about a new wave of confusion.

The NFF is mulling over not handing him an extension and with idea of handing the job to an indigenous coach, the consensus decision by most of the executive committee members of the Ibrahim Musa Gusau led board.

OGN spoke to five senior players of the team and they all backed the Portuguese coach to continue in his role as coach insisting that they are slowly coming to terms with his demands and tactics, especially with his all out attack approach, a total departure to what they played in the five years under erstwhile coach Gernot Rohr.

Three of them rejected the idea of bringing an indigenous coach to lead the team pointing out to the debacle and mess that engulfed the Austine Eguavoen led crew, which cost them a spot at the World Cup in Qatar.

In their words, no indigenous coach has stepped up to the level of handling the team with the demands of building a team before the next AFCON, a task they believe can only be handled by an experienced coach like Peseiro.

Osas Mahawi

The recent tour of Europe embarked upon by the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro could open the door for several players to be given a chance in the team.

Peseiro was in Belgium last week , he arrived France two days ago and paid a visit to the training ground of Ligue 1 side FC Lorient where 27 year old defensive midfielder Bonke Innocent plays.

Capped four times at senior level, the midfield enforcer has just one appearance to his name under Peseiro but has been included in the provisional list of players on four different occasions without making the final list for games.

The visit also afforded Peseiro the chance to meet with 18 year old defender Isaac James who plays for the B team following his move from Garden City FC in July. He has played 12 games in the National 2-Grp. D, the 4th division in France where the B team plays.

Comfortably as a left back or right back , his immediate target will be getting into the first team of the Ligue 1 side and making many appearances like Bonke who already has played in 20 league games this season.

James is aware that Peseiro is tracking him and it should be a way of motivating him to push for a step up to the main team and possibly a Super Eagles chance before the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

Osas Mahawi

Nigerian superstar David Adeleke alias Davido breaks records with the fourth album. 1xBet congratulates its brand ambassador on his incredible success. 

Timeless was officially released on March 31. Within a week, the 49-minute, 17-song compilation became the first African album to top the iTunes charts in the USA.

New singles resonated with fans worldwide, with over 50 million streams on various music platforms and the highest number of first-day album sales by an African artist. Circulation exceeded over 1 million copies on its first day of release, breaking the previous record by Burna Boy. Such success is not accidental – Davido’s songs radiate joy and great energy, also present on the earlier album Unavailable. 

When it comes to constantly moving towards maximum results, 1xBet and Davido share the same values and mentality. Our collaboration will bring to life new projects that will interest both fans of African music and betting.  

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South Africa have announced the list of players that will be representing them at the U17 Africa Cup of Nations, which will take place in Algeria and will will be played between 29 April and 19 May 2023.

Grouped alongside Nigeria, Zambia and Morocco in Group B. They will open their campaign in the tournament against Morocco on the 30th of April before further games against Zambia and Nigeria on the 3rd and 6th of May respectively.

In their official list of players for the tournament, they picked three foreign based players in Kyle Jansen of MLS side Atlanta United, Waylon Renecke of Norwich City and Michael Dokunmu of Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem.

16 year old Dokunmu is seen as a future star by the Dutch side and only recently signed his first professional deal at the club. He was born in South Africa to a South African mother and a Nigerian father.

He is eligible for Nigeria and South Africa but for now he is settled with the U17 team of latter and will be hoping to help them beat Nigeria to one of the four tickets available for the U17 World Cup via the tournament.

SA U17 squad in full for AFCON:

Goalkeepers:

Takalani Mazhamba – Kaizer Chiefs
Genaro Johnson – Cape Town Spurs
Kyle Jansen – Atlanta United

Defenders:

Xhosa Manyama – Cape Town City
Keitumetse Lesia – SuperSport United
Waylon Renecke – Norwich City
Benjamin Wallis – SuperSport United
Vincent Sithole – Mamelodi Sundowns
Tyler Cicero – Stellenbosch
Thato Sibiya – Mamelodi Sundowns

Midfielders:

Xolani Tshaka – Orlando Pirates
Gomolemo Kekana – TS Galaxy
Vicky Mkhwana – Kaizer Chiefs
Xavier Jodamus – Ubuntu
Dhakier Lee –  Cape Town Spurs

Forwards:

Michael Dokunmu – Vitesse
Orifha Maubelo – Capital City
Bennet Mokoena – Mamelodi Sundowns
Gabriel Amato – Cape Town City
Siyabonga Mabena – Mamelodi Sundowns
Luke Baartman – Cape Town Spurs

Osas Mahawi

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has deferred the decision on the future of Nigeria U23 coach Salisu Yusuf despite his failure to qualify the Nigeria B team for the CHAN tournament and also failing with the U23.

Yusuf is the head coach of both teams and also doubles as one of the assistants of the coach of the main team Jose Peseiro. His position was believed to be untenable following his recent failures but the NFF appear not to be in a hurry to let go off the former coach of Kano Pillars.

Unlike Imama Amapakabo who was sacked under similar circumstances with both teams, Yusuf is set to stay in his role judging by the communique issued by the NFF after their recent meeting.

While expressing their displeasure at the performance of the Super Eagles and that of the  U23 team, the football house stayed silent on the future of Yusuf but warned players of the teams mentioned to give their all as the football house won’t be held ransom by any player.

Item 6 of the communique read thus:

“The Board expressed distaste with recent results of the Super Eagles and the U23 Boys, and fully endorsed the NFF President’s stated position that the Federation will never beg any player to wear the nation’s colours. It added that whoever is not motivated for one reason or the other to represent Nigeria should always be bold enough to state this at the point of invitation. Any perceived lackadaisical attitude by any player wearing Nigeria’s colours at international level will no longer be treated with kid gloves”.

Mohammed Mowiz

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has amended the regulation around the age test system popularly called Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) ahead of the U17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria, OGN reports.

In a correspondence on their official website CAF announced that they have revised the guidelines and amended the part that says an entire team will be disqualified if one player fails the test. The new guideline will come into effect from this year’s tournament.

It says a team will only be disqualified if four or more of its players fail the test. It also says if one, two or three of the players fail the test which is pegged at grade 6. The concerned team will be allowed to play in the tournament but the players involved will be disqualified with the team also not given the window to replace them.

Below is the new regulation by CAF which will benefit the Nigeria U17 team with three of their key midfielders on grade 5, which is a grade above the limit set by Nigeria, and the NFF decided to exclude them in order not to get the team disqualified, with fears hinged on the players possibly growing above the limit when tested at the tournament proper.

Mohammed Mowiz

Crystal Palace star midfielder Ebere Eze reminded all who might have forgotten of his star quality by hitting a brace that helped his team beat Southampton 2-0, their third consecutive win under new manger Roy Hodgson.

Eze struck in the 54th and 68th minute of the game to once again put himself in the frame for a discussion over a possible call up to the senior national team of England. A long term injury cost him his first chance at playing for the country at senior level.

Now back at his best and playing with a lot of freedom under Hodgson, his national team choice would have been the senior national team of Nigeria if the then coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr had foresight to see that he has a bright future.

While at Millwall and struggling to find his feet, the then 19 year old attended a training camp of the senior national team of Nigeria in London, where they played Senegal in a friendly game on the 23rd of March 2017.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw and another game was scheduled to be played by Nigeria but it was cancelled leading to a hasty decision to organize a test game involving players of Nigerian descent living in the United Kingdom. Eze was one of the players.

Chuba Akpom and Ola Aina were the other two known names who took part in the training game but while the aforementioned duo have been cleared to play for Nigeria, Rohr made it clear back then that he has enough quality in his midfield and didn’t follow up the task of monitoring the development of Eze.

One year later after Eze has blossom to a certain aspect with QPR in the English Championship, Rohr came calling again but this time around the player has already been contacted by the handlers of the U21 team of England. He picked going with them especially as there was no guarantee from Rohr on a spot in the Nigerian team.

After that failed move, Rohr contacted former NFF president Amaju Pinnick to speak with the 20 year old as at that time. A meeting was set up with Eze by Pinnick but he omitted his representatives who were not happy by what they termed as unprofessional by the present FIFA congress man.

His representatives saw it as a form of disrespect and following his move to Crystal Palace two seasons ago urged him to make the best of his time in the English Premier League, and he could be in the frame for a call up to the English team.

While at Crystal Palace, he met with Pinnick twice in London and even posted their picture together but around that time he has his mind made up on playing for England. Injury robbed him the chance to be a part of the pool for the European Championship.

He revealed that he saw a message on his phone about his call up to the English team for the Euros, when he got into the locker room after picking up the injury which kept him out for eight months. Now back to his best level another chance is likely on the horizon.

Mohammed Mowiz