In Thursday, Nigeria's Eagles play the Leopards of DR Congo in Antwerp and three days later face the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Brussels. Players are expected to start arriving in camp today in what will provide new coach Sunday Oliseh with an opportunity to look at several new players.
Originally invited for the games, Moses, who is currently on loan to West Ham from Chelsea, decided to pull out after last weekend's game. On Saturday, Moses, who was in action for West Ham in a 2-2 draw against Sunderland away at the Stadium of Light in an English Premier League game for 55th minutes, said he was pulling out in a precautionary move against injury.
Already, central defender Kenneth Omeruo, another Chelsea player who is currently on loan to Turkish club Kasimpasa, has had to withdraw from the squad. Oliseh has already called up Celtic defender Efe Ambrose to replace Omeruo but it is not yet clear if a replacement will be sought for Moses.
While regretting the two setbacks Oliseh, assured that the team has enough good quality options to fill the gaps left by both players. He expressed confidence that those who take to the pitch will do Nigeria proud.
Oliseh said: “We have no choice now but to work with the other players who are available. The fact that the other batch of players from home were not issued their visas last week is also setting us back because we would really want to take advantage of the time to put in a lot of work.”
Some of the home-based players are struggling to get travel visas from the Belgium embassy, which has delayed their arrival in camp. Meanwhile, Kasimpasa has revealed that Omeruo will be out for just two weeks, allaying fears in certain quarters that the injury could keep him out for a long time.
Comments
Post a Comment