The list of players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria for their AFCON qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Rwanda respectively generated a lot of buzz over the inclusion of certain players in the squad, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Interim coach of the Nigerian team Austine Eguavoen handed out a call up to Auxerre defender Gabriel Osho, who was first invited for the friendly games against Ghana and Mali respectively but couldn’t make it due to injury.
His first invitation came while he was at English Premier League side Luton Town FC, but he left them for Auxerre on a free transfer following their relegation to the English Championship. He has been a regular at his new side until he got injured two weeks ago.
Now back to full fitness and hoping for his first game later today against Marseille, he is expected to depart for the camp of the Nigerian team in Cote d’Ivoire for the first game against Benin Republic after the game.
Explaining the decision to hand him another chance to stake a claim in the team, one of the assistant coaches of Eguavoen Daniel Ogunmodede explained in an interview on NFF TV that he was called up because they feel he is good enough for a spot in the team.
“The head coach has come up with a list, discussed with us as his back-room staff and I think they are competent and capable to represent the country. They are all familiar faces apart from Gabriel Osho who is new in the setup now because he had an injury and had to undergo surgery”, he explained before going further to defend the inclusion of Sadiq Umar and also a first time call up to Victor Collins of Nasarawa United.
Umar hasn’t had the best of season with Real Sociedad in Spain and Collins can pass as an unknown name in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).
“Sadiq had been in the team for a while and was also out due to injury now he’s back and the coach felt we needed a left foot centre back and presently in the league, we have Victor Collins that has proven his worth.”
