Recent reports in some Nigerian media has it that Crystal Palace midfielder Ebere Eze told former NFF president Amaju Pinnick that he will be open to playing for Nigeria if they make it to the 2022 World Cup, which was played in Qatar.

Nigeria failed to qualify for the World Cup losing out to Ghana in the plaoff on away goal rule and according to reports Eze would have agreed to play for the Super Eagles, if they had made it to the tournament.

It was claimed he struck the agreement with Pinnick, who met with him thrice in London in a bid to convince him to snub England for Nigeria. Eze trained with the Nigerian team in 2018 during a camping exercise in London.

In a message sent to OGN, a certain Chima who claims to be a brother of the Crystal Palace star said at no point was such an agreement reached between Eze and Pinnick. Insisting that there is no iota of truth in the report.

” That report isn’t true. Eze was close to getting his first call up to the senior national team of England for the Euros and that was 2021. Eze discovered he was part of Gareth Southgate’s plans immediately after hurting his achilles in training for his club back then”, Chima told OGN.

” He was one of the shining light for the England Under-21 team and Southgate noticed, he returned to the dressing room and found a message from the Football Association telling him that he was in the senior squad for the first time. That was around the same time, the news claimed he agreed to play for Nigeria. How does that sound”, he asked.

” Ese could yet play for Nigeria in the future. That door has never been closed and he told Pinnick the same thing. We wait and see what the future holds but at no time did he list qualifying for the World Cup as a condition to play for Nigeria. That’s false”, he rounded up saying.

The senior national team of Nigeria will regroup next month for the qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, where they will take on Guinea Bissau in back to back to games in Abuja and Morocco respectively.

OGN takes a look at five Nigerian players who are presently doing well in the English Championship and should be in the head of coach Jose Peseiro ahead of the game. The first encounter between both countries will be on the 24th of Marchin Abuja.

Nathan Tella – He is presently one of the stars of the Burnley team that has taken the English Championship by storm this season. The 23 year old has played 28 games this season and presently boast of two assists and 12 goals for the runaway leaders. It includes a hattrick against Preston North End over the weekend.

Chuba Akpom –  He is presently the top scorer in the English Championship and what makes his case more interesting is that he isn’t playing as the main striker for his team. 27 year old Akpom like Tella has already gotten the all clear to play for Nigeria and his 17 goals puts him in the frame for his first call up.

Aji Alese – Real name Ajibola Joshua Odunayo Afolarin Alese, he has been a revelation at Sunderland this season. Comfortable as a left back of the left sided centre backs in a back three he hasn’t looked back since his breakthrough. The 22 year old is eligible for Nigeria and England and with 16 games under his belt this season. Nigeria will do well by having a look at him.

Matthew Sorinola – Two goals, two assists from 23 games as a full back tells a lot about the ability of the 21 year old Sorinola. He is on loan to Swansea City from Belgium side Union SG. He won’t be needing any clearance from FIFA considering that he hasn’t been capped by England at any level.

Tim Iroegbunam- At 19 it’s rare to see a player who is having his first taste of senior football having the kind of season Tim is having at QPR, where he is on loan from Aston Villa. He has played a total of 25 games in all competitions this season with 23 coming in the league. He should be in the minds of Peseiro who is keen on growing his pool of options in the midfield.

Mohammed Mowiz

The match winner for Borussia Dortmund in yesterday’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League Karim Adeyemi has revealed the secret behind the speed with which he plays.

Adeyemi presently holds the honor of the fastest player in the German Bundesliga and he showed the rest of the world with the way he ghosted past Enzo Fernandez to score what ended as the winner in the 63rd minute.

Reacting to the secret behind his pace, the 21 year old who is born to a Nigerian father and was recently in Nigeria to watch the local football team named in his honour said it’s down to a combination of the Nigerian foods he eats plus his father’s genes.

Here is an extract from the video made available to OGN, where he confirmed Fufu as the secret behind his pace.

Reporter: Karim tell me what you eat because I want to be as fast as you.

Karim : I eat a lot of African food but I have good genetics, so I think it a little bit difficult for you to get fast.

Reporter – Yeah I know. I have some trouble, what is the African food called so I can look it up?

Karim: It’s called fufu

Reporter  – From where is that?

Karim: Nigeria.

Osas Mahawi 

Nigeria international forward Kelechi Iheanacho has been picked as the star of the Leicester City team that defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 in the English Premier League over the weekend, OGN reports.

Iheanacho bagged a goal and two assists in the win which further helped his team to pull away from the relegation zone. The Nigerian has looked unstoppable since getting the faith of coach Brendan Rodgers the past few games.

Last weekend, he played a little over an hour but before he was subbed off he already did enough to ensure that his team run away with all three points and it didn’t go unnoticed with former coach of Spurs Harry Redknapp singling him out for his performance.

“Kelechi Iheanacho has been in the starting line-up in the last couple of weeks and he’s certainly delivered for his manager. He got a goal and assist at the weekend, and he took his goal well”, he told BetVictor.

“He’s always been a good, natural finisher and if he keep this form up, he’ll remain in the side. Leicester were brilliant at the weekend, and he was a big reason why. He’s got to be my star man this weekend!”

Daniel Martins 

The Nigeria U20 camp will receive a huge boost when one of the invited foreign based players arrive the camp of the team in Morocco before their departure to Egypt for the Africa U20 Cup of Nations.

All but one of the 21 listed players are in camp and with the team set to play against Central Africa Republic (CAR) tomorrow in a test game, they will likely have a full house for the game. They won their first test game by coming from behind to beat Congo 2-1.

Team sources revealed to OGN that Ahmed Abdullahi who plays for Belgium side Gent will be in the camp of the team later today being Tuesday the 14th of February. There is still no confirmation on if he will take part in the game against CAR.

Abdullahi isn’t new to the team as he was part of the WAFU B winning team. Last week he made his first real step towards breaking into the first team of the Belgium side, when he was listed in the matchday squad for the game against Westerlo which ended in a 3-3 draw.

The Nigeria U20 team will depart Morocco on Thursday for Egypt ahead of their first group game of the tournament against Senegal on Sunday. Egypt and Mozambique are the other teams in their group.

Mohammed Mowiz

The decision by Crystal Palace goalkeeper Owen Goodman to turn down an invitation to be a part of the Nigeria U20 team for the Africa Cup of Nations was one of the issues that came to the fore at the start of preparation for the tournament.

As first reported by OGN, the goalkeeper who is in the frame for a first team debut at the English Premier League side was handed the chance to be a part of the team but he surprisingly turned it down. He is also eligible for two other countries in England and Canada.

We gathered he has already accepted an invitation to train with the English U19 with Canada also pushing to have him in their youth team set up. His decision appears to havs drawn the ire of former Nigeria international Efe Ambrose.

Speaking to OGN, Ambrose said his decision is one he might regret if he fails to make the grade at the other two countries he prefers ahead of Nigeria. He said going to the U20 AFCON would have put him in the best position to be Super Eagles number one this year.

” He could regret it because it’s the door to becoming the first choice goalkeeper of the senior national team. Presently there is no much competition in that department and a strong showing at the tournament would have opened the door for him to be a part of the set up almost immediately. He missed a trick that could backfire”, Ambrose rounded up saying.

Waziri Damian