Joel Asoro was the name on the lips of many football pundits in France, when he scored what ended as the match winner for Metz against Ligue 1 representative in this year’s UEFA Champions League Lens, Owngoalnigeria.com reports.
Asoro stunned the home crowd with the only goal of the match in the 37th minute, denting the morale of the team ahead of their return to the UEFA Champions League where they will take on Sevilla on Wednesday after over a decade away from Europe’s premier club tournament.
Capped twice by Sweden at senior level, Asoro is still eligible for Nigeria through his parents and the idea was pitched to him in 2017, by then head on the Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr in agreement with former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick.
They (Nigeria) have contacted me’, an 18 year old Asoro back then when he was at Sunderland told SVT. ‘We will see what happens if I do not get into the A national team in Sweden. I’ll probably choose Nigeria. England is also a possibility. If I live in England for two more years, I can play for their national team”, he stated.
He has since gone ahead to play for Sweden at senior level after making lot of appearances at various youth levels for the nordic country, but a new change in eligibility rules means he can still play for Nigeria if he applies for a switch of nationality.
However the striker’s position is one area where Nigeria are well stocked with the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi, Terem Moffi, Sadiq Umar, Paul Onuachu, Victor Boniface and Gift Orban pushing for the role of back up striker to Victor Osimhen.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
