The interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has made known his starting lineup for today’s game against Ghana in the World Cup playoff.

The duo of goalkepper Maduka Okoye and defender Wilfred Ndidi are not part of the team for this game and in their place Francis Uzoho and Innocent Bonke will take their respective positions in the starting lineup.

Leon Balogun takes the spot of Kenneth Omeruo who isn’t properly fit as he hasn’t played since returning from the injury that kept him out for three weeks while at Leganes. Zaidu Sanusi will be at left back.

William Troost Ekong and Ola Aina completes the back four with the duo of Joe Aribo and Kelechi Iheanacho playing in the middle with the latter behind the striker. Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze will play from the left and right respectively.

Victor Osimhen will lead the line as expected with the trio of Odion Ighalo, Sadiq Umar and Emmanuel Dennis expected to play some role during the course of the game.

Oghenekaro Etebo and Frank Onyeka are also in with a chance to get some game time that is if they don’t start later today at 8pm when the game begins.

Uzoho

Balogun

Zaidu

Aina

Ekong

Bonke

Aribo

Iheanacho

Chukwueze

Simon

Osimhen

When it comes to betting in Africa, Nigeria has long been an accommodating stage for online bettors. Moreover, the country permits many sportsbook operations.

Furthermore, Nigerian bettors have several options to explore online if they want to play for fun or real money.

Additionally, these players can also explore a variety of sports and tournaments on gambling sites in Nigeria. Consequently, the sports You can bet on in Nigeria are football, basketball, rugby, boxing, and many more.

These sports have many interesting tournaments that increase bettors’ winning online gambling platforms. Some of the notable competitions Nigerians stake on are the premier league, FA Cup, champions league, super bowl, and many more.

We have reviewed the interest of most Nigerian Bettors and what the best gambling sites in Nigeria offers. So follow along to find out more!

Gambling Laws in Nigeria

The first step of getting the best gambling platform in Nigeria is properly researching its legality status.

Bettors need to fully understand what it means for a gambling site to be legal. After then, they need to learn about the available gambling laws in Nigeria.

Moreover, research the values of the gambling platform and the legal committee in charge of giving due license to gambling platforms.

Is Gambling Legal in Nigeria?

Every country that allows betting companies to operate has a special arrangement to oversee betting operations. Nigeria is no different. The body, In this case, is the Nigeria Lottery Regulatory Commission.

Moreover, the Nigerian criminal act code clearly defines what gambling is about. It also differentiates the gambling actions that are legal from the illegal ones. Additionally, it splits the country’s legal and illegal gambling forms.

Some Nigerian states set up a different body to regulate gambling activities in their region. One of those states is Lagos State – The most commercial city in the country.

Lagos State has a separate body known as the Lagos state lottery Board that issues licenses and regulates sportsbooks’ gambling operations within their jurisdiction.

Moreover, making gambling decisions about suitable online gambling sites becomes easier for Nigerian players. However, if you want to play on online gambling sites, ensure you verify if the platform offers the requirements of a gambling platform.

These requirements might include various sports options, exclusive bonuses & promotions, a fantastic interface, and specific banking services.

These features are essential if you desire to pick a gambling site that will give you the best gambling experience in Nigeria.

Remember, it is possible that a gambling platform is licensed but does not have the significant exclusive features all top online gambling platforms should have.

Consequently, you will tell what the gambling platform you have in mind offers with the needed research.

How to Start Betting in Nigeria

Betting in Nigeria is very easy as long as you pass the age requirements of 18-years-old.

Moreover, you are required to meet up with several other unique standards of the gambling platform.

After thorough research on choosing the best gambling site, we hope you will find a suitable one. Then, you can continue by registering on the platform.

Once your account passes the verification processes, you can move to the next step of depositing into your account. Most Nigerian gambling sites offer whooping welcome and deposit bonuses.

Therefore, if you want these bonuses, ensure you pick a gambling site that offers one. Moreover, read through the terms and conditions of the gambling sites thoroughly to discover other excellent benefits of using their platform.

After depositing, explore other site sections to get familiar with them. Most importantly, analyze the market section and play games. Let us now discuss some of the best sports gambling in Nigerian.

Sports Nigerians bet on

Most times, the sports you play on a betting site determine if you will win or lose. However, bettors have a variety of passions and strategies for betting.

Therefore, your chances of winning are higher when you choose a sport you are familiar with on the platform. Below are some of the sports Nigerians bet on

Football

This game is the most popular sport in Nigeria. However, millions of bettors all over Africa have made the selections popular by placing bets on football games.

Football gives you a whopping 80% chance of winning, and it is straightforward to predict. Moreover, football offers you enormous options.

For example, you can play different leagues and cup tournaments. Furthermore, the big teams in football have an actual high winning rate, and placing bets on them can be very easy.

Examples of the best teams globally are Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Juventus, and many more.

Horse Racing

Although this sport is not as famous as football in Nigeria, it also offers fantastic payouts.

The competitions are easy to predict if you are familiar with the horse and the racer.

Unlike football, you do not need to do rigorous analysis as you are sure that your favourite rider wins almost every time.

Combat Sports

In Nigeria, other exciting games to place a bet on are boxing and MMA (mixed martial arts). Bettors can easily make a profit playing these bets. Many Nigerians are also actively involved in MMA and boxing.

Therefore most Nigerians are familiar with these athletes as the Niger fighters are their favourite, and they find it easy to place bets on them.

Additionally, placing bets on a fighter is straightforward as you do not need to predict the form of a group of people.

Instead, you need to check one person’s state. Moreover, it is also a short bet as you have to analyze a single individual’s statistics.

Rugby

Rugby is a prevalent sport in Africa. As a result, many Nigerians are familiar with the rugby teams, and they find it easy to stake on them.

Moreover, like football, rugby offers players the opportunity to gamble in different tournaments and markets.

Some of the top competitions in rugby are September Rugby Cup, Rugby Union, and Rugby League.

Some of the best rugby teams globally are South Africa, New Zealand, the USA, England, and many more.

Therefore, you can go ahead and bet on these teams and be sure to win real money with rugby on online betting platforms.

Some Popular Market Selections in Nigeria

Below are some of the typical market selections in Nigeria:

Totals

Over/under

Draw no bet

Asian handicap

Corners

Players to be carded and many more.

The interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen is expected to make as many as five changes to the starting lineup of the team when they take on Ghana in the World Cup playoff.

From the last team that played in the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 game as many as five players won’t be part of the starting lineup today with two of them out of the team due to issues not related to form.

The duo of goalkepper Maduka Okoye and defender Wilfred Ndidi are not part of the team for this game and in their place Francis Uzoho and Innocent Bonke will take their respective positions in the starting lineup.

Leon Balogun is expected to take the spot of Kenneth Omeruo who isn’t properly fit as he hasn’t played since returning from the injury that kept him out for three weeks while at Leganes. Calvin Bassey at left back looks likely to happen but Zaidu Sanusi might yet keep his spot.

William Troost Ekong and Ola Aina completes the back four with the duo of Joe Aribo and Kelechi Iheanacho expected to keep their spot in the starting lineup. Barring a late change of mind Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze will play from the left and right respectively.

Victor Osimhen will lead the line as expected with the trio of Odion Ighalo, Sadiq Umar and Emmanuel Dennis expected to play some role during the course of the game.

Oghenekaro Etebo, Ademola Lookman and Frank Onyeka are also in with a chance to get some game time that is if they don’t start later today at 8pm when the game begins.

Expected Starting XI

Uzoho
Balogun
Bassey/Zaidu
Aina
Ekong
Bonke
Aribo
Iheanacho
Chukwueze
Simon
Osimhen

The Super Eagles of Nigeria came to Ghana fully prepared for tomorrow’s world cup playoff in Kumasi against Ghana as they came with all they will be needing during their stay in the country.

Aside flying in a chartered flight, they also came with food items, cooks and water from Nigeria. The team also made separate hotel accommodation plans from the one they were offered by their host.

We also gathered that they yesterday had a covid 19 test where all players came out negative and will submit it to CAF instead of allowing the players to be tested by the authorities in Ghana.

The move we gathered is to forestall a situation where the results will be tempered with the antics of teams when it comes to Covid 19 results in Africa coming to the core during CAF club tournaments and some international games.

“We came here with everything that we will be needing during our stay including our Covid -19 results. The idea is not to leave any stone unturned ahead of the game tomorrow”, a team source told OwnGoalNigeria.com

Interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has given the reason why he picked Lorient man Innocent Bonke as replacement for the injured Wilfred Ndidi in his squad for the world cup playoff.

Bonke was called up as replacement for Ndidi for the Super Eagles squad for the game against Ghana tomorrow in Kumasi. His inclusion raised eyebrows as he wasn’t named in the standby list.

Ogenyi Onazi whose controversial Inclusion drew criticism from a large section of the Nigerian media was largely expected to be called up as his replacement. The Al-Adalah midfielder was however shunned by the coach.

Explaining his decision, he said on the standby list there was no defensive midfielder hence his decision to go out of the list to call up the Lorient man, who isn’t new to the team.

“If you look at the standby list there was no defensive midfielder there. It is quite unfortunate that Ndidi is out but Bonke is somewhere in my heart and he has been part of the team in the past and so we invited him,” Eguavoen stated.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will be without key midfielder Wilfred Ndidi when they take on Ghana tomorrow in Kumasi in the world cup playoff. His loss has been made up for according to coach Austine Eguavoen.

Eguavoen revealed although the team will miss the Leicester City man because of his importance to how they want to play he however said his absence won’t make the team alter their style of play.

“We wish Ndidi speedy recovery. He is an important player for the national team. I know how important he is to us but his absence is not going to change anything. We have a couple of players who can play in that position”, he explained.

“The philosophy will not change, style of play will not change, only personnel will change”.

Pressed on if he has already identify a replacement after watching all the invited players, he said he has already seen who will fill the shoes of Ndidi but he won’t be revealing until tomorrow.

“Till that day I am not going to tell you who will play in that position. We have a whole lot to pick from and get what we want. There is so much at stake. Getting the world cup ticket is our target and we hope to get it. We know we have to fight for it because Ghana want it as much as we do. But we must try and get over the line’, he concluded.

History could be made tomorrow when Nigeria take on Ghana in Kumasi in the first leg of the world cup playoff per what we noticed in yesterday’s training of the senior national team of Nigeria.

Coach Austine Eguavoen able aided by his assistant Emmanuel Amuneke had the team in a session during training yesterday where defenders were paired against the forwards of the team.

One thing that was quite noticeable was the way the quartet of Leon Balogun, William Troost Ekong, Ola Aina and Calvin Bassey were used all through the session despite the coaches moving from a back four to a back three.

Bassey was in particular a part of all of the tactical switch as he was the left back in a back four and when it was moved to a three man defence, he played as the left sided central defender.

If all four players get to play tomorrow against Ghana, it will be the first time in the history of Nigerian football that all members of the defence were born abroad. Balogun was born in Germany, Ekong in the Netherlands while Bassey and Aina were born in the United Kingdom.

The absence of the first choice goalkepper of the senior national team of Nigeria Maduka Okoye was a cause for concern as the team build up to the World Cup playoff against Ghana.

Okoye the only goalkepper who is a regular has been ruled out of the game with an unspecified illness leaving the team in the hands of two senior goalkeppers in Francis Uzoho and Daniel Akpeyi. John Noble of Enyimba was called up as his replacement.

All three goalkeppers have struggled for game time since the start of the year with Akpeyi yet to taste action for over a month while Uzoho has kept goal just three times since January. Noble only recently reclaimed his spot as first choice.

However such fears were laid to rest during yesterday’s training with Uzoho proving that he is more than capable to fill up for the absence of Okoye in goal in tomorrow’s game during yesterday’s session.

After stopping just one of six spot kicks from Odion Ighalo and losing $200 in the process , he made atonement for it by stopping three spot kicks from same player. He also made a stupendous save from a well hit freekick from Emmanuel Dennis.

Uzoho didn’t stop there as he showed good reflex and reaction to twice deny Victor Osimhen a clear chance at goal. He was also very good in dealing with shot during the shooting session. His ball distribution was all very much up there during the course of a practice match.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria yesterday had their final training session ahead of Friday’s World Cup playoff game against Ghana in Kumasi.

Under the watch of interim coach of the team Austine Eguavoen, the team trained for close to two hours with all invited players available to the coaches for the first time since camp opened on Monday.

After the usual warm up exercise, the goalkeppers were taken to one section of the pitch where they were made to undergo specific drills under the supervision of goalkepper’s coach Alloy Agu.

Coach Emmanuel Amuneke who has been very much involved in the training of the team took the outfield players on certain technical sessions focused on ball possession in tight areas.

They were later involved in a practice match which lasted for close to an hour and ended in a 2-1 draw with goals from Samuel Chukwueze and Ademola Lookman from the spot handing their team the win. Odion Ighalo got the other goal.

Chukwueze in particular showed he still has the quick feet that made him a delight at U17 level for Nigeria as he weaved his way past four players to open scoring in the session.

Moses Simon ensured his team didn’t fall behind for long as his well timed pass felled kindly for Odion Ighalo to draw his team level. Lookman however had the last laugh.

A quick combination of play between the lively Emmanuel Dennis and Victor Osimhen created space for the Napoli man to wreck havoc but just before he could, Leon Balogun hacked him down.

Lookman stepped up and dispatch the spot kick past Francis Uzoho with ease. He also came close to scoring twice with Simon who was a thorn in the flesh of Ola Aina setting him up on both occasions.

Aside the goal scorers, Watford star Emmanuel Dennis had a very brilliant session, dribbling with ease, setting up players and also converted almost all of the chances he was given during a drill on goal scoring.