Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo was denied a chance of teaming up with the senior national team of Nigeria by the English FA, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Nigeria will take part in a four team tournament in Turkey, Involving Iran, Jordan and Costa Rica. It was originally billed to take place in Jordan but was moved due to the escalation of violence in the Middle East.
Super Eagles won’t be at the world cup, but will use the tournament to begin the second phase of the rebuild of the team under Chelle, who led the team to a third place finish at the AFCON in January.
They will open their campaign at the tournament against Iran on the 27th of March, while Jordan take on Costa Rica in the tournament’s other game.
Okonkwo was handed a first time call up to the Nigerian team by head coach of the team Eric Chelle on the account of his performances for English Championship side Wrexham, he decided to commit his international future to Nigeria after representing England at various youth levels.
” Even though he didn’t play for England in any major competition or games. He is still required to be cleared by the association because he is registered with FIFA as an England international. So just like it was for Promise David who didn’t play for Nigeria but needed association clearance. That’s what Okonkwo needed”, a source explained.
” Chelle included him in the list with the hope that the letter will come through, but it didn’t. His case is different from Emmanuel Fernandez of Rangers but similar to that of Alex Iwobi who required the same process to play for Super Eagles”, he concluded.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
