Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen voiced his unhappiness with Samuel Chukwueze over his excessive showboating as Super Eagles round up their training ahead of today’s game against Egypt.

The team will open their AFCON campaign by 5pm today hence had their last training session which was opened to the media for 15 minutes before having a one hour plus session behind closed doors.

Interim coach of the team Austine Eguavoen put the players through their paces with serious tactical session which involved all of the players bar the goalkeppers who had a different drill with goalkepper coach Alloy Agu.

Eguavoen per what we gathered was unhappy with Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze and yelled at him to cut down his dribbling especially when they are on the attack with more numbers.

He admonished the 22 year old to always know when to release the ball and when to hold on to it as the Egyptian team is one that can be feared when it comes to making the most out of loose balls.

Chukwueze will definitely play some part in today’s game but it’s still unclear if he will be starting or coming on as a substitute as at the time of filing in this report.

The general manager of the senior national team of Sudan Mohsen Sayed says the Pharaohs of Egypt will defeat the senior national team of Nigeria when both teams clash tomorrow in their first game of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Sudan are in the same group with both teams and will open their campaign against the other team in the group in Guinea-Bissau but he is keen on an Egyptian win over Nigeria.

He said the Egyptian name have what it takes on paper to beat Nigeria ranking their star player Mohammed Salah as the best player in the world.

“Egypt has the best player (Salah) in the world. On paper, the Egyptian national team is better than Nigeria and is the closest to winning, but football is full of surprises. I definitely hope that Egypt win”, he told Mega FM.

On tomorrow’s opponent , he said they are familiar with threat they posses as they played against them twice in a space of one month during the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup.

“We know the Guinea-Bissau national team very well. We met twice in the qualifiers for the World Cup a month ago. We are building a strong generation for the future and all the players will participate in their first major international tournament,” he said.

Interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen says Watford forward Emmanuel Dennis didn’t show enough commitment to play for Nigeria at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Dennis as reported by OwnGoalNigeria.com turned down the invitation to be a part of the Super Eagles squad to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations on the account of Watford’s refusal to release him.

Watford claimed the player wasn’t sent the pre tournament invitation at the right time with coach Claudio Ranieri also confirming that the striker decided to stay behind and help Watford in their quest to beat the drop.

Eguavoen was asked about the situation behind the striker’s absence at the tournament and the coach mince no word in saying that it was down to Dennis to push Watford to be released for the tournament.

He faulted the committment of the 24 year old to playing for Nigeria at the tournament as even during his playing days they had to fight to be released by their respective teams in order to honour national team call up.

“We have to respect people opinions, but there are regulations to release players. It boils down to the individual players, you have to fight for it. We also battle such when we were playing and we fought it because it’s a privilege & honour to play for your country.”

Coach of the senior national team of Egypt Carlos Queiroz says his team won’t be going all out to attack against the senior national team of Nigeria when they clash tomorrow at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.

The clash is seen as very important to the dreams of both teams finishing as winners of the group which also has Sudan and Guinea Bissau and Queiroz isn’t taking any chance with tomorrow’s game.

Asked during the pre match conference on if his team will be going all out to attack against the Nigerian team, he hinted at showing respect to the Nigerian team which he termed a very strong team.

“It’s a great pleasure to face Nigeria in the opening game. We want to face the strongest teams in the tournament,” Queiroz said at the pre-match press conference.

“Nigeria is a very strong team, but we have no objections. It’s always good to compete against football giants.

“We have a lot of players that are competing among themselves for a starting position, and that’s great because we came here to play seven games.

“Our ambition is very simple. Win all the matches,” the Portuguese coach concluded.

Torino and Super Eagles of Nigeria defender Ola Aina says his intention is to do well at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in what is his second major tournament with the senior national team of Nigeria.

The former England youth international failed to make the cut for the 2018 World Cup in Russia but did play for the Super Eagles at the 2019 AFCON where they won bronze.

Speaking on the mood of the Nigerian team ahead of the start of the tournament, he praised the atmosphere in the camp saying his personal goal is to do well at the tournament for the good of the team.

“It’s very good, I love the atmosphere. We are very close together. We are like a family which is very important.”

“I want to play well for the team and put up good performances that will help the squad”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com

On the issue of the disrespect shown to the Africa Cup of Nations as a tournament by top European teams, Aina said it’s unfair to see the tournament as a small tournament.

“I said to my roommate (Alex Iwobi) that when you come here, you realise what privilege is to play at this tournament. The magnitude of this competition is massive. I will never feel AFCON is a small tournament, the world shouldn’t see it like that.”

The captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Ahead Musa says he won’t be playing at any other Africa Cup of Nations tournament after the ongoing edition in Cameroon.

Musa won the tournament with Nigeria in 2013 and also played in the 2019 edition where they finished third. 29 year old Musa however said he won’t be appearing at another tournament after this.

He made the revelation while speaking at the pre match conference ahead of their opening game of the tournament against Egypt tomorrow in Garuoa. He is still keen on leaving on a high and said he will continue to give his best when called upon.

“I think this is my last AFCON,” the former Al Nassr poster boy replied when quizzed on his future plans.

He continued: “I have spoken to the boys that this is the only gift you can give to me because this is my last AFCON. And the boys told me that they are ready.

“My first AFCON was in South Africa in 2013 and we ended up winning it. And my second appearance was in Egypt and we won the bronze.”

He is presently the most capped Nigerian player with 103 caps to his name. A tally he will likely eclipse at the tournament with Nigeria keen to go all the way to the final of the tournament.

The star of the Egyptian national team Mohammed Salah says he won’t be drawn into exchanging words with captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Ahmed Musa.

Ahead of their clash tomorrow, the Super Eagles captain Musa said as much as all talks is on the Liverpool ace, they as a team are not worried about the threat he possesses as they also have players who are threatening as well.

“Everyone is talking about Salah, but if you look at our team we have lots of players they will be worried about,” Musa declared during a press conference held in Abuja on Tuesday.

“So we don’t have to think about Salah; they have to think about our own players.

“They talk about Salah but we have players like Samuel Chukwueze and others on the wings who are very dangerous, so that’s football,” the Super Eagles captain explained.

Salah was asked about the comments of the Fatih Karagumruk winger and he responded by saying he wouldn’t be drawn into a war of words with Musa as he has respect for him.

” Both teams have good players, they have the chance to win. We will do our best to win tomorrow. I don’t think there is need to reply him because he is someone I respect so much. Super Eagles have a good team but we would our best to defeat them”, he said at the pre match conference ahead of the game.

The interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen says he is doing all within his capacity to hand a solid team to incoming substantive coach Jose Peseiro.

Eguavoen will steer the team through the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations with  the Portuguese coach succeeding him immediately after the tournament as he will be in charge of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers playoff which starts in March.

Speaking ahead of Nigeria’s AFCON 2021 opener against Egypt tomorrow, Eguavoen cleared the air on any potential rift with the coach as they are both working for the good of the team.

He further said he still remains the head of the technical department of the NFF by virtue of his position as technical director hence Peseiro is answerable to him.

“We are in touch. It’s not a problem. Mind you I am the technical director of Nigeria Football, by extension and right I am his boss. So collaboration is very good, because whatever we do here is to make it a soft landing and platform to operate”, he explained.

“We want to be at the next World Cup. There is need to make everything comfortable and smooth for him. When Peseiro resumes, he can now add his own ideas”.

The role Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho will play for Nigeria against Egypt in their AFCON 2021 opener is proving hard to figure out for the technical crew of the Super Eagles.

Iheanacho has so far been the most impressive forward in front of goal for the team in training but the technical crew don’t see him as an out and out striker as he can’t be said to be suitable to the role of playing as lone striker. Something which their planned formation of 4-2-3-1 requires.

In the practice game against Coton Sport, the coaches played him as a part of a thee man midfield alongside the duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Joe Aribo. He didn’t quite look at home even though his role was more advanced as he was behind the main striker in Taiwo Awoniyi.

The coaches are not thinking of playing a two man attack which is the surest way to accommodate and get the best out of the lethal finisher but if push comes to shove they might consider going that route.

Another idea that has been mooted is to have Iheanacho play behind Ahmed Musa, who will be required to use his pace and experience in making runs behind to good effect and can also be effective when the team want to press.

Later today they will agree on how to approach the game tomorrow and top of their agenda will be a suitable role for Iheanacho who has so far shown that he deserve to start against Egypt.