Interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has given the reason why he picked Lorient man Innocent Bonke as replacement for the injured Wilfred Ndidi in his squad for the world cup playoff.
Bonke was called up as replacement for Ndidi for the Super Eagles squad for the game against Ghana tomorrow in Kumasi. His inclusion raised eyebrows as he wasn’t named in the standby list.
Ogenyi Onazi whose controversial Inclusion drew criticism from a large section of the Nigerian media was largely expected to be called up as his replacement. The Al-Adalah midfielder was however shunned by the coach.
Explaining his decision, he said on the standby list there was no defensive midfielder hence his decision to go out of the list to call up the Lorient man, who isn’t new to the team.
“If you look at the standby list there was no defensive midfielder there. It is quite unfortunate that Ndidi is out but Bonke is somewhere in my heart and he has been part of the team in the past and so we invited him,” Eguavoen stated.
