Newly invited Nigeria international defender Ryan Alebiosu says despite his eligibility to play for England he has always wanted for play for the senior national team of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The Blackburn Rovers defender made the Super Eagles final 28 man list for the upcoming AFCON tournament in Morocco, which will be made public later this week.

Alebiosu spoke with head coach Eric Chelle who watched him in action for Blackburn Rovers, the team he joined in the summer from Belgium side Kortrijk.

Trained at Arsenal and with spells in Scotland and Belgium he has cemented his spot in the Championship side , so much that for three consecutive months he was voted the player of the month.

” For me it has always been Nigeria because I grew up supporting the team with influence from my parents. During my unveiling at Rovers in the summer I was wrapped in a Nigerian flag not even knowing that I will be at the next major tournament with the team”, the 23 year old revealed.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has issued a new date for the pre AFCON friendly game against Egypt owing to a decision by FIFA that clubs can hold on to their players until 15th of December, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nigeria were supposed to play the tune up game against Egypt on the 14th of December, but the decision by world football governing body means the game will now hold on Tuesday, 16th December.

“Aside from the postponement, the game will now be a practice match in order to allow the two teams to make use of more than five substitutes in the encounter, which will kick off at 8pm Egypt time (7pm Nigeria time) at the Cairo Stadium”, the statement from the NFF confirms.

It means the game won’t count as an official game for both teams because FIFA allows for a minimum of five substitutes in games between member nations for it to be recognised.

The Super Eagles are in Group C of the 35th Africa Cup of Nations finals alongside 2004 champions Tunisia, 1978 runners-up Uganda, and Tanzania. Nigeria’s first match is on Tuesday, 23 December against Tanzania’s Taifa Stars at the Complexe Sportif de Fes, where they will also tackle Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles (Saturday, 27 December) and the Cranes of Uganda (Tuesday, 30 December).

Egypt who hosted the finals in 2019, are in Group B alongside 1996 hosts and winners South Africa, 2010 hosts Angola, and Zimbabwe. Their matches will be at the Stade d’Agadir.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

France World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit has written off the Super Eagles of Nigeria as title contenders heading into the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Speaking on the tournament which begins on the 21 of December in Morocco, the midfielder who was a part of the 1998 World Cup winning squad of France picked his favourite, and dark horse for the tournament.

Petit didn’t mention the Nigerian team as favorites, rather went for the host and gave his reasons citing the current Africa Player of the year Achraf Hakimi as a huge factor.

“Who are my favourites to win the Africa Cup of Nations? I would have to say Morocco because of the players they have, and they are playing at home. In Morocco, we have seen some social troubles in the streets two months ago. The fight was not far away,” Petit told Snabbare.

“We know that football can be very powerful in society to calm down the young generation. The African Player of the Year was Achraf Hakimi. The whole competition would be in Morocco. We all know the money and the expectation from the King of Morocco.”

He picked South Africa as the dark horse of the tournament owing to the manner which they made it to the world cup, despite having Africa football giants Nigeria in their group.

“That being said, you can’t rule out South Africa either after qualifying for the World Cup. Bafana Bafana are underdogs to go all the way at the Africa Cup of Nations.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle picked just four defenders in his final 28 man list for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The decision of William Troost-Ekong to quit international football after making the provisional list of 54 players meant the option in central defence moved from five to four.

Chelle is also handicapped with the fact that Hamburg defender Jordan Torunarigha asked to be left out of the team, with no assurance of getting regular game time at the tournament.

A replacement for Ekong would have been the ideal thing to do, but sources say the coach is satisfied with the options available to him, and has picked the quartet of Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi, Chidozie Awaziem and Igoh Ogbu.

He has also settled for four full backs with the duo of Bright Osayi-Samuel and Ryan Alebiosu as right back. Zaidu Sanusi and Bruno Onyemaechi will be his options at left back bringing to ten the total number of defenders.

LASK defender Emmanuel Michael is said to be in with an outside chance of making the team, but as the time of this report a decision hasn’t been made yet.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The viral reports about Nigerian agent Tobi Alabi threatening Tottenham Hotspur defender Destiny Udogie with a gun has no substance in it , OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Alabi who has been very instrumental in the transfer of so many players to the English Premier League was key in helping Udogie join Spurs two seasons ago, rather than honour the agreement of his transfer he is rather being treated like the villain.

Tuttomercatoweb claimed the Nigerian was arrested and later released on bail for the incident, but there is hardly a way a man who is said to be in possession of firearms illegally will be allow to leave on bail in the United Kingdom. Sadly a lot of Italian media outlets ran with the story without due diligence.

For the avoidance of doubts, Alabi who is of Nigerian descent hasn’t been charged to court over the said incident, which easily puts a lie on the claims made to go viral by the media in Italy.

Sources say his legal team are already preparing to seek legal address with the source of the news and other media outlets on the matter, which is clearly an act to dent the fast rising profile of the agent.

It’s worthy to note that no mainstream British media, where the incident occurred ran with the narrative expect the Italian media who are keen on protecting their own with Udogie a full international for Italy at senior level.

The decision of head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle to pick Blackburn Rovers defender Ryan Alebiosu in his 54 man provisional list for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco has been hailed, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Alebiosu joined English Championship side Blackburn Rovers in the summer from Belgium side Kortrijk, and showed his international allegiance to Nigeria by wrapping himself in a Nigerian flag during pictures at his unveiling ceremony.

He has since gone on to cement his spot in the team of Blackburn catching the attention of Chelle who picked him in his provisional list, after he secured his Nigerian passport which suffered a little delay.

” He ( Ryan) is among the best five right backs in the English Championship at the moment and that is not a small feat when you consider the amount of international players in the league. At Blackburn Rovers he has been voted the player of the month three times in a row”, Sam Jones a journalist who covers Blackburn Rovers stated.

” Ryan was educated at Arsenal and he has also picked valuable lessons playing in Scotland and in Belgium. What we are seeing now is a well experienced 23 year old. I really think the scout who recommended him to Nigeria did a really good job”, he concluded.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

LASK defender Emmanuel Michael says he broke into tears when he saw his name in the Super Eagles 54 man provisional list for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

A former U17 player for Nigeria, Michael who is a product of Kaduna based Academy Simoiben owned by Ibukun Simon, the wife of Nigeria international Moses Simon has five appearances to his name this season.

He came into the spotlight with a strong showing for the U17 team of Nigeria that won the WAFU B tournament with three man of the match awards in five games. He also scored three goals directly from free kicks.

Head coach Eric Chelle sees him as one of the players for his rebuilding process of the team, which is the integration of young players starting from the AFCON.

” I didn’t expect my name to be there , hence I wasn’t bothered but I saw missed calls from almost everyone that has my contact with messages of congratulations. I was like what is going on then my agent sent the list to me and I broke into tears”, he revealed in an exclusive conversation.

He went further to state his mission in the camp of the team when it opens in Egypt, saying it’s not all the time that you get a chance at 19 to be a part of the senior national team.

” My idea is to give my best like my fellow former academy mate Benjamin Fredrick did when he got his chance. At 19 not many players get to be recognised by the senior national team and I hope to make the best out of it”, he stated.

The captain of the senior national team of Nigeria William Troost-Ekong yesterday announced his retirement from the senior national team of Nigeria, three weeks after calling such reports fake news when it was broken by a Nigerian journalist Mike_The Pundit on social media platform X.

Ekong as correctly called by the Nigerian journalist already told the players in the dressing room after the penalty defeat by Congo Dr in the world cup qualifiers playoff, denying them a ticket to represent Africa at the Intercontinental playoff in Mexico next year.

It was a case of going to the world cup if the team makes it before announcing his retirement or quit if they fail to make it, especially as he has been told by head coach Eric Chelle that he is not guaranteed to get games at the AFCON.

32 year old Ekong is entering the final year of his contract with Saudi Arabia side Al-Kholood and going to the AFCON, where he has been told he won’t get to play much will jeopardise his chances of getting a new deal at his club.

Already he saw the handwriting on the wall that he won’t be needed at the AFCON after head coach Eric Chelle picked Chidozie Awaziem ahead of him in the game against Dr Congo, when he made his final substitute with Ekong as the most viable choice with the game heading into shoot outs due to his reliance from the spot.

Chelle made up his mind on dropping Ekong after the friendly game against Russia, hence the bold decision to play a 19 year old in Benjamin Fredrick in a crucial world cup qualifiers game at home against Rwanda ahead of the captain.

Fredrick dropped a man of the match performance, justifying the decision of the coach who was opposed by senior players when he made the call.

He bowed to pressure and played Ekong in the next game against South Africa, but yanked him off after 45 minutes after his own goal handed South Africa the lead.

Three high profile errors in three straight start against Zimbabwe, Russia and South Africa respectively was all Chelle needed to bin him, although he started him against Lesotho with Semi Ajayi rested for the all important game against Benin Republic in Uyo, and the absence of Awaziem who is now back on the radar with his performances for Nantes.

Sources close to the team say Ekong felt Chelle sided with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) during the bonus row, which saw the team boycott training during the playoff. It further hastened his decision to quit now.

Ekong will be fondly remembered as the Oyibo boy who came in against all odds and rose to the position of captain of the team, and not for how it ended because everything in between that matters cements his spot as a Super Eagles legend.

He leaves international tournament on a high after winning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the last AFCON, where he played with a thorn hamstring picked up in the first game but battled on till the final where they lost 1-2 to Cote d’Ivoire. He scored Nigeria’s lone goal in that game with a looping header.

“Kaa di” skippo and thank you for the memories. You’ll always be remembered.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has defended the reason behind his decision to include the injured duo of Ola Aina and Felix Agu in his preliminary list of players for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The duo are currently not expected back in action until next year per statements released by their respective clubs, but Chelle still had them in his list which was made public two days ago.

Their inclusion sparked a lot of talks, but Chelle was clear that he got assurances from the players that they will be fit hence his decision to include them in his squad, although he is also aware that they might also not make it.

His explanation was taken by the NFF technical committee with Chelle also saying that the doubts over the availability of one of the duo, was why he handed a first time call up to young LASK defender Emmanuel Michael.

Michael will serve as a cover for the two senior left backs in the team in Zaidu Sanusi and Bruno Onyemaechi respectively.

Chelle feels a 28 man list will aid his job of blooding in young players for the futures of the team , which is expected to undergo a huge rebuild after the AFCON in Morocco.