21 players in the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria will later today observe the first training session of the team ahead of the first leg of their world cup playoff against Ghana on Friday.

Today around 6:30pm Nigerian time, they will observe their first real training session at the Moshood Abiola Stadium under the eyes of the technical crew of the team led by Austine Eguavoen who retains his position as interim technical adviser.

Victor Osimhen of Italian Serie A side Napoli arrived the camp to swell the number to 21. He is coming into the game in his best form ever after scoring back to back brace in the Serie A against Verona and Udinese respectively.

Nigeria will however be without Sparta Rotterdam goalkepper Maduka Okoye who has been ruled out due to an unspecified illness. He has been replaced by Enyimba’s goalkepper John Noble. Noble too isn’t fully fit as he went out of their 0-0 draw against Wikki Tourist in the 70th minute with an injury.

Meanwhile the one player yet to arrive the camp of the team is Leicester City winger Ademola Lookman with reports circulating that he has pulled out of the game with an unspecified illness. There is still no official confirmation.

Below is the list of the 21 players in camp:

Update! Victor Osimhen is here. 21 players in camp…Ekong, Balogun, Ajayi, Aina, Onyeka, Ighalo, Akpeyi, Musa, Etebo, Iheanacho, Abdullahi, Uzoho, Simon, Dennis, Aribo, Bassey, Bonke, Omeruo, Sanusi, Chukwueze, Osimhen.

The first choice goalkepper of the senior national team of Nigeria Maduka Okoye won’t be available for Nigeria in their playoff against Ghana.

Okoye was ruled out earlier today with an undefined illness not specifi if it is Covid 19 or otherwise. His spot has been handed to Enyimba’s goalkepper John Noble who was Injured during the weekend.

The goalkepper was substituted during the course of Enyimba’s 0-0 draw against Wikki Tourist in Bauchi after a lengthy treatment following a knock he received. However there is no information on if he has recovered.

Even if he is injured, the onus to man the post for Nigeria in the first leg on Friday and possibly the second leg in Abuja on the 29th will fall on Francis Uzoho, who is the second choice goalkepper of the team.

Nigeria will have their first full training session later today at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja. 18 players are expected to take part in the session.

Following the arrival of Kenneth Omeruo to the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of their World Cup playoff game against Ghana, a total of 18 players are now in the camp of the team.

Today was fixed as deadline for the arrival of players by the technical crew of the team as they will depart for Ghana on Thursday for the first of the two leg tie against Ghana. The game will be played on Friday in Kumasi.

The team will have their first training session later today with six of the invited players expected to have joined up before then. Except maybe Sadiq Umar who played a game yesterday night for Almeria.

Victor Osimhen, Zaidu Sanusi, Samuel Chukwueze, Ademola Lookman, Maduka Okoye and Akinkumi Amoo are the other players yet to arrive the camp of the team as at the time of this report.

Below is the list of players in camp already.

William Ekong, Leon Balogun, Semi Ajayi, Ola Aina, Frank Onyeka, Odion Ighalo, Daniel Akpeyi, Ahmed Musa, Oghenekaro Etebo, Kelechi Iheanacho, Shehu Abdullahi, Francis Uzoho, Moses Simon, Emmanuel Dennis, Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey, Innocent Bonke, Kenneth Omeruo.

The camp of the senior national team of Nigeria came alive this morning with the arrival of more of the invited players for the world cup playoff against Ghana on Friday.

Super Eagles are holding a training camp in Abuja before making the trip to Kumasi on Thursday for the first leg of the tie which will take place on Friday. The return leg will be on the 29th in Nigeria.

Ahead of the start of training this evening, the quartet of Innocent Bonke, Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey and Emmanuel Dennis swelled the number in camp to 17. They arrived just in time to beat the deadline set by the technical crew.

Below is the list of players already in the camp.

William Ekong, Leon Balogun, Semi Ajayi, Ola Aina, Frank Onyeka, Odion Ighalo, Daniel Akpeyi, Ahmed Musa, Oghenekaro Etebo, Kelechi Iheanacho, Shehu Abdullahi, Francis Uzoho, Moses Simon, Emmanuel Dennis, Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey, Innocent Bonke

The list of players of the Black Stars of Ghana who will take on the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been made public by the Ghana Football Federation, OwnGoalNigeria.com understands.

Ahead of the World Cup playoff game, the Ghanaian team failed to make the list of invited players public until few minutes ago as part of their strategy for the game.

In the list for the two legged game, there was a first time call up for Dennis Odoi who represented Belgium at several youth levels and senior level but has now decided to commit his senior international future to Ghana at the age of 33.

Comfortable as a right back, Odoi who had a six year stint in England with Fulham decided to switch to Ghana after failing to add to his solitary cap for the senior national team of Belgium which came in a 2-2 draw against Montenegro in 2012.

His main task will be to ensure that Nigeria’s flying winger Moses Simon is under wraps as he was the main threat in the Nigerian team during the 2021 delayed Africa Cup of Nations.

Ghana Squad.

Goalkeepers:

Jojo Wallacott
Richard Ofori
Nurudeen Manaf

Defenders:
Dennis Odoi
Andy Yiadom
Dennis Korsah
Gideon Mensah
Joseph Aidoo
Alex Djiku
Daniel Amartey
Abdul Mumin

Midfielders:
Baba Iddrisu
Thomas Partey
Edmun Addo
Daniel Kyere
Kudus Mohamed
Yaw Yeboah
Issahaku Fatawu

Strikers:
Joseph Paintsil
Afena Gyan
Christopher Antwi
Osuman Bukari
Dauda Mohammed

The camp of the senior national team of Nigeria in Abuja ahead of their World Cup playoff against Ghana has come alive following the arrival of more of the invited players.

Nigeria will take on Ghana on the 25th in the first leg of the playoff before engaging them in Abuja four days later for the second leg. The winner of both ties on aggregate will qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Led by interim technical adviser Austine Eguavoen, the team will later today have a mini session to put the players in the right frame of mind ahead of the start of competitive training tomorrow.

For now 8 players are in the camp following the arrival of Nantes forward Moses Simon, who was sighted at the international wing of the Abuja airport upon arrival from his base in France.

The official handle of the Super Eagles on social media also announced the arrival of Daniel Akpeyi from South Africa. For now he is the only goalkepper in the camp of the team.

Below is the list of players in the camp of the team.

William Troost-Ekong, Leon Balogun, Semi Ajayi, Ola Aina, Frank Onyeka, Odion Ighalo, Daniel Akpeyi, Moses Simon.

Lorient’s Innocent Bonke has been called up to the senior national team of Nigeria for the 2002 World Cup playoff games against Ghana, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

As at yesterday we reported that interim coach of the Nigerian team Austine Eguavoen has opened talks with the 26 year old defensive midfielder on filing the void created by the injury enforced absence of Wilfred Ndidi.

Ndidi is likely out of both games but instead of reaching out to Ogenyi Onazi who was the place on the standby list. The technical crew decided to go for Bonke who has excelled since joining Lorient from Swedish side Malmö.

Bonke will arrive camp next week ahead of the first leg of the playoff on the 25th in Kumasi. He won’t be the only player added to the squad with Chidozie Awaziem also set to take the place of Kenneth Omeruo who is also out injured.

We exclusively gathered that even Leicester City Ademola Lookman is a huge doubt for the game as he was named in their squad for the English Premier League game against Brentford.

Napoli kept their hopes of winning the Italian Serie A by coming from behind to beat Udinese 2-1 courtesy of a brace from their Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen.

Udinese took the lead in the 22nd minute through Gerard Deulofeu, a lead that hanged on to till the end of the first half before Osimhen altered the scoreline.

He headed home the leveller in the 52nd minute before showing good movement in the box to score his second of the game in the 63rd minute. He thought he had a hattrick but his effort was ruled out by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) as he was offside.

What would have been a perfect evening for the Nigerian was ruined when he picked up a yellow card for dissent. Which means he will miss their next league game after the international break.

Udinese’s hope of a comeback was made a lot more difficult when Pablo Mari was sent off for dangerous play in the 82nd minute. Napoli are now level with leaders AC Milan at the top of the Serie A but they have played a game more.

The goals took his tally in the Serie A this season to ten goals. A respectable tally when you consider the length of time he was out injured and the time it took him to get back to his level.

Later tonight he will depart Italy for the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of their World Cup qualifiers playoff games against Ghana on the 25th and 29th of March respectively.

The squad of the senior national team of Nigeria for the World Cup playoff tie against Ghana has been altered by interim coach of the team Austine Eguavoen, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Eguavoen has two main issues to deal with at the moment with defender Kenneth Omeruo and key midfielder Wilfred Ndidi set to miss out of the game which will be played on the 25th and 29th of March respectively.

Already contact has been established with Alanyaspor defender Chidozie Awaziem to take the spot of Omeruo. He will make the step up from the standby list to the main list per what we gathered. Eguavoen have already told him to report to the camp in Abuja.

A replacement for Ndidi is yet to be agreed as they wait to ascertain how long he will be out injured. There are hopes that even if he misses the first leg in Kumasi on the 25th he could be fit for the return leg in Abuja on the 29th. A scan later today will give the true picture of things.

Meanwhile we gathered Ogenyi Onazi who is the defensive midfielder on standby could be snubbed for Innocent Bonke of French Ligue 1 side Lorient. As at the time of filing in this report Onazi who plays for Al-Adalah in the second division in Saudi Arabia hasn’t been contacted.

However preliminary talks have taken place with Bonke and Alhassan Yusuf of Belgium side Antwerp is also believed to be in the list of alternative Eguavoen is looking at.