The Super Eagles full house is complete. All 24 players invited by Eric Chelle for Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania are now in camp in Uyo, ending two days of flight delays and staggered arrivals that had left the coach waiting on his squad.
Ten players arrived at the team’s base, the Four Points by Sheraton in Ikot Ekpene, on Tuesday morning. Seven more joined the group for Tuesday evening’s first training session at the practice pitch of the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, taking the number in camp to 17. The final seven have now checked in, giving Chelle his complete squad for the first time this week.
Among the last to arrive were captain Wilfred Ndidi, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Taiwo Awoniyi, Moses Usor, first-time invitee Mubarak Suleiman, Bruno Onyemaechi and Abdullahi Bewene. Their arrival means Chelle can finally work with his full group, just two days before the first leg in Uyo.
Super Eagles full house: who is in camp
The full squad reads like a roll call of the coach’s trusted core and his new faces. Goalkeepers Stanley Nwabali, Arthur Okonkwo and Francis Uzoho are all in, along with defenders Calvin Bassey, Ola Aina, Semi Ajayi, Benjamin Fredrick, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Chibuike Nwaiwu, Onyemaechi and Bewene.
In midfield, Ndidi leads a group that includes Alex Iwobi, Alhassan Yusuf, Tochukwu Nnadi, Samson Tijani, Dele-Bashiru and Suleiman. The forwards are Moses Simon, Awoniyi, Akor Adams, Ademola Lookman, Tolu Arokodare and Usor. Chelle named the 24-man squad on Saturday, and for the first time since then, every one of them is under the same roof.
The build-up has been anything but smooth. Monday’s arrivals were disrupted by flight scheduling challenges at the Victor Attah International Airport, and by Monday evening not a single player had reported. Seventeen players trained on Tuesday evening, but the coach still had to wait for his captain and six others before he could call the camp complete.
What Chelle does with two full days
Chelle’s problem now is time, not numbers. The team will hold another training session on Wednesday evening, with only the first 15 minutes open to the media, and players are also available for interviews at the team’s base today. The pre-match press conference follows on Thursday at the Media Centre of the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium.
That leaves the coach barely two full sessions to shape a team and settle an attack without Victor Osimhen, who is out after knee surgery and is expected to be sidelined for around five weeks. Osimhen underwent successful surgery on Saturday, and Samuel Chukwueze is also unavailable after hip surgery. In-form Kelechi Iheanacho, who has scored 17 goals for Bursaspor this season, was left out of the squad altogether.
The goals must come from elsewhere. Arokodare arrives in the form of his life, with 13 goals in 17 games for Ajax, while Lookman will be expected to carry the creative burden after a difficult run at Atletico Madrid. Awoniyi, Adams and Usor are the other striking options, and Chelle has two days to decide who leads the line on Friday.
What is at stake against Tanzania
Nigeria sit second in Group L with three points from their opening two fixtures — a 2-1 win over Madagascar in Uyo followed by a 3-0 defeat in Bissau against Guinea-Bissau, who lead the group on six points. With Tanzania already guaranteed a place at the 2027 tournament as co-hosts, only one ticket is left in the group, and Nigeria need maximum points from this double-header to strengthen their grip on it.
Tanzania are not arriving as pushovers. They landed in Uyo on Tuesday morning, have already held their first training session, and their striker Almasi Kasongo has warned that the Taifa Stars are not scared of the Super Eagles. Kasongo’s defiant message came despite Tanzania losing two key players, Clement Mzize and Dickson Job, to injury before the trip.
The first leg kicks off at 17:00 WAT on Friday at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo. The return leg follows on Tuesday 17 November at 14:00 WAT at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar.
For more on Friday’s qualifier, check today’s predictions. Complete Sports reported from Uyo that the full squad is now in camp as preparations intensify.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) — collage by SportsBuddy.
