Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has already started plans for the upcoming world cup qualifiers games in September against Rwanda and South Africa respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
The coach who recently led the team to the Unity Cup triumph and also a 1-1 draw against Russia has also started drawing up list of players, who are expected to be a part of the team and will as expected leave out certain players.
Chelle’s aim is to have a poll of 25 players that he can trust for both game, hence his decision to leave out some players and per what we exclusively gathered five players who didn’t do badly for their respective teams will not feature in the plans.
Kevin Akpoguma – Capped eight times by Nigeria he must have sensed another opportunity to add to his caps when the Malian was appointed early this year , but despite playing in 32 Bundesliga games he doesn’t seem to be in the immediate plans of the coach.
Francis Uzoho – The oldest goalkeeper in the setup but still only 26 year old. Lost his spot as first choice before the AFCON last year and now appears to have been pushed out of the setup totally with the trio of Stanley Nwabali, Maduka Okoye and Amas Obasogie the preferred options ahead of him. He kept goal for Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup.
Leon Balogun – Unlucky to be left out of the squad for the Unity Cup but it appears to be that a decision to end his international career have been taken. Now clubless after leaving Scottish side Rangers upon the expiration of his contract, the 36 year old is out of the coach’s plan.
Gabriel Osho – Capped twice by the immediate past coach of the team Austine Eguavoen. The Auxerre center back would have thought he will be in the frame for the man who took over , but his spot as third choice centre back now appears to be with Igho Ogbu. The emergence of Fredrick Benjamin won’t help his case of a return. He made 20 appearances in his debut season in Ligue 1.
Adebayo Adeleye – He has one official cap for the team but not even his total of 23 appearances in Cyprus for EN Paralimniou, where he also won five man of the match awards including player of the month in the league was enough to convince Chelle to give him another chance.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
