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.

The camp of the senior national team of Nigeria is in a state of anxiety as one of the key players in the team Wilfred Ndidi suffered a knee injury in action for Leicester City.

Ndidi started for Leicester City in their Europa Conference League game second leg tie against Rennes but had to be subbed off with what looked like a knee injury.

Reports after the game which Leicester City lost 1-2 but still progressed on a 3-2 aggregate score has it that the Nigerian isn’t badly injured but it is indeed an injury to his knee.

Speaking after the game, coach of Leicester City Brendan Rodgers confirmed that he suffered from a medial ligament injury in his knee.

Per what we gathered online. The time it takes to fully recover from an MCL tear depends on how severe the tear is. A grade 1 (mild) MCL tear usually heals within one to three weeks.

A grade 2 (moderate) MCL tear generally takes four to six weeks to heal with treatment. A grade 3 (severe) MCL tear can take six weeks or more to heal with treatment.

The injury means he is in a race against time to be fit for the Super Eagles first leg World Cup 2022 playoff game against Ghana on the 25th of March, he is also a doubt for the return leg in Nigeria on the 29th.

The camp of the senior national team of Nigeria was thrown into a state of anxiety as one of the key player of the team in Wilfred Ndidi suffered a knee injury in action for Leicester City.

Ndidi started for Leicester City in their Europa Conference League game second leg tie against Rennes but had to be subbed off with what looked like a knee injury.

Reports after the game which Leicester City lost 1-2 but still progressed on a 3-2 aggregate score has it that the Nigerian isn’t badly injured but it is indeed an injury to his knee.

The injury means he is in a race against time to be fit for the Super Eagles first leg World Cup 2022 playoff game against Ghana on the 25th of March, he is also a doubt for the return leg in Nigeria on the 29th.

Legendary Italian forward Alessandro Altobelli has given his views on the debate about who is a better striker between Napoli Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen and Juventus Dusan Vlahovic.

The debate has been on for a while and Altobelli who spent eleven year at Inter Milan (1977-1988) and also spent a year at Juventus (1988-1989) on loan picked Osimhen ahead of Vlahovic. He made the assertion after watching Vlahovic fire blanks as Juventus exit the UCL following a 0-3 loss to Villarreal.

“Osimhen is stronger than Vlahovic . When I criticized the Nigerian, he had only scored 4 goals,” said the Inter legend who during an appearance on Canale 8 via JuventusNews24.

He said Osimhen is currently having his game shaped by coach Luciano Spalleti in a bid to forge him into one of the best strikers in the world.

“Now Spalletti is working hard on him, forging him into one of the best strikers. On Sunday I was able to see his movements, as well as the goals.

“In this moment he is enjoying a great growth, and for me, he is better than Vlahovic”, the 1982 World Cup winner with Italy concluded.