The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has submitted the list of players who will defend the colours of Nigeria in their next Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Nigeria will take on Sierra Leone in back to back games next month seeking a win to seal progress to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations after winning their first two games.

Owngoalnigeria.com exclusively gathered that the coach has handed a return to five players of the team who were missing from the last squad for the friendly games against Algeria and Tunisia respectively.

First choice goalkeeper Francis Uzoho who celebrated his return from a long injury lay off with a clean sheet for Apoel Nicosia in a 4-0 cup win over PAEEK is back in the team.

Daniel Akpeyi also returns after missing out on selection for the last game but the duo are going to be up against newly crowned first choice Maduka Okoye for the position of number one.

Okoye posted a five star performance yesterday in the KNVB Cup despite his team losing 5-3 on penalties to ADO Den Haag to crash out of the cup.

Joe Aribo, Oghenekaro Etebo and Victor Osimhen complete the list of players who were handed a recall by Rohr for the next month games.

A cross section of players of the senior national team of Nigeria say there is no plan to boycott the AFCON 2021 qualifiers game against Sierra Leone next month.

Nigeria will take on Sierra Leone in back to back AFCON 2021 qualifiers searching for a win to book their place in the next year showpiece but there are talks of a possible withdrawal of players from the game.

The talks were centered on the players showing solidarity with the #EndSars movement which is meant to bring an end to police brutality in Nigeria. A menace that has claimed several lives.

Speaking to Owngoalnigeria.com, two senior players of the team revealed that at no time did they held a zoom meeting about pulling out of the game even though some of them have fears of their personal security.

The Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF) has confirmed the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium In Benin as the venue for the game. A break from the Godswill Akpabio Stadium In Uyo State that has been the home of the team since 2017.

Coach of FC Porto Sergio Conceicao has expressed his concerns over the fitness of Nigeria international left back Zaidu Sanusi ahead of their UEFA Champions League game against Olympiacos tomorrow.

Zaidu was sent off 16 minutes to the end of the game against Gil Vicente in the Portuguese Primeira Liga which ended 1-0 in favour of his team.

Speaking after the game, Conceicao listed the newly capped Super Eagles left back among players who will likely miss tomorrow’s game due to injury.

22 year old Zaidu is in a race against time to be fit for the game as he is currently battling with a contusion on the anterior part of his thigh. It could deny him the chance to play in his second UEFA Champions League game after making his debut against Manchester City during the last round of games.

He trained separately yesterday when the team begin their preparations for the game but a decision on his inclusion in the squad is yet to be made as at the time of filing in this report.

Per reports exclusively gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com editorial team, the duo of Tosin Adarabiyio and Nathan Tella are free to play for Nigeria in the next AFCON 2021 qualifiers.

Both players are in the English Premier League and eligible for England as well but at the moment a call up by Nigeria looks more likely considering they won’t be needing any form of approval by FIFA to play for Nigeria.

21 year old Nathan Tella was mentioned by the trusted assistant of the coach of the Nigerian team Tunde Adelakun while speaking on players likely to switch allegiance to Nigeria.

It is believed that for Adelakun to publicly speak about him means he is on the radar of the coaches and if he could make himself a mainstay in the team of Southampton then he will no doubt get a call up. Tella hasn’t been capped at any level by England.

So far he has made the matchday squad five times for Premier League games but has only played three games coming on as a substitute against Tottenham Hotspur, Burnley and Chelsea respectively.

Adarabiyio has been on the radar of Nigeria for a while but the former Manchester City defender who only recently moved to Fulham wasn’t keen on committing to Nigeria.

However he has had a change of heart and he is open to accepting a call up if handed one by Rohr. Despite playing for England at three different youth levels he doesn’t require an approval from FIFA as the games were only friendly games.

The decision to call the players lies in the court of Rohr who is expected to name his squad for the back to back AFCON 2021 qualifiers game against Sierra Leone next week.

SKF Sered Nigerian goalkeeper Matthew Yakubu is presently the only shot stopper of the Nigerian team who is a regular in the top flight league.

Yakubu was handed his first call up by coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr after an impressive run of form which saw him post five clean sheets in eight games.

He earned praises from Rohr for his performance in training with the coach even going as far as saying that he will hand the former Nigeria U20 goalkeeper a chance in one of the two friendly games of the team.

The coach failed to match his words with action as Maduka Okoye kept goal in the 0-1 loss to Algeria and the 1-1 draw against Tunisia in the games that was played in Austria.

Since then while Yakubu has retained his spot as first choice at his Slovakian side same can’t be said about Okoye,
who is still the second choice of Sparta Rotterdam and had to keep fit by playing for the youth team in the Dutch regional league.

Regular first choice Francis Uzoho is back in full training but he still waiting for his first competitive game in almost a year with three appearances on the bench the closest he has come to playing for Omonia Nicosia.

Dele Alampasu who was handed a recall to the team for the friendly games of two weeks ago hasn’t played for Ventspils in the Latvian league since conceding three goals in the 0-3 loss to Valmiera on the 3rd of September.

Former Nigeria international left back Celestine Babayaro has taken as swipe at the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr over how the Super Eagles played in their last two games.

Nigeria were beating by Algeria before drawing 1-1 with Tunisia but beyond the results Babayaro was heavily critical of the way the Nigerian team played in the games.

Babayaro while speaking on the progress of the team under Rohr since his appointment in 2016 said while the team has no doubt had very good results under the coach, there’s still no clear cut style on how to approach games.

The former Chelsea defender told Owngoalngeria.com that Rohr is yet to drill in a style of play into the players which was why the performance against Algeria and Tunisia left many unhappy.

“ Rohr has talked a lot about the style of the team under him but there’s no real action to back it up. It’s four years now and you can’t say this is how he wants them to play”, Babayaro said.

“ From the outside. It’s like the players are picked for play without any instruction on how to play. Very obvious to see the talents and qualities of players in the team. A good coach will no doubt make them play a brand of exciting football which will be entraining even in defeats”.

Some Nigerian players will be in action as UEFA club competitions return this midweek, use the platform with the fastest payout if you have to bet on these games.

As many as five players of the senior national team of Nigeria have raised some serious observation on the role of Joseph Yobo in the coaching set up of the Super Eagles.

Yobo was appointed as part of the technical crew of Gernot Rohr and was a part of the bench for the first time in the friendly games against Algeria and Tunisia respectively.

The former Super Eagles captain was made the third assistant of Rohr behind the duo of Nabil Trabelsi, the video analyst of the team and Jean Luc Royer, who is the fitness coach.

However players of the team were surprised when it was Yobo who was the most vocal on the bench during the friendly games passing instructions at about same time as Rohr on the touch line.

Usually the assistant coaches don’t pass instructions when the head coach is doing same but that wasn’t the case with Yobo. One player even said he gave counter instructions to the one handed by Rohr.

While his input in training was praised by three out of the four players who spoke with Owngoalnigeria.com they all unanimously agreed that his conduct on the touch line during games came as a surprise.

Three of the players confirmed that since the appointment of Rohr as coach in 2016, Yobo is the first coach to be on the touchline passing instructions about same time when the head coach is doing same.

Nigeria international wing forward Henry Onyekuru could be on his way out of Monaco in the January transfer window after losing his spot in team.

Onyekuru started the season on a high with coach Niko Kovac keen on giving him a chance at the club following his return from a loan spell in Turkey with Galatasary.

The coach has however gone the way of former coaches of Monaco in Leonardo Jardim and Gerard Moreno in his handling of Onyekuru by dropping him from his squad in the last four games.

Kovac is reportedly unhappy with the way Onyekuru has acquitted himself in the four Ligue 1 games he has played this season hence has relegated him to the role of third choice winger.

23 year old Onyekuru is now once again fighting for his future at the club and with the January transfer window looming he could be on his way out as he tried to engineer a move away in the summer.

Calvin Bassey enhanced his growing reputation at Scottish side Rangers with another faultless performance as they cruise to a 2-0 win over Livingston.

Bassey picked up form where he left off in the Europa League slotting with ease into the left back position where he excelled on Thursday in the 2-0 away win.

The 20 year old is on the radar of the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr who watched the game where Joe Aribo cemented his return from injury with a goal.

Rohr has received glowing reports about the left back who can also play in central defence and it is believed that he will very soon get a chance with the senior national team of Nigeria.

As it stands he will be up against the duo of Jamilu Collins and Zaidu Sanusi if he is given a call up to the Nigerian team as the aforementioned players are the preferred options at left back .