Taking place in Senegal between November 28 and December 12, African U-23 Championship features eight teams, of which the top three will qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Nigeria's U23 squad is currently preparing for the quadrennial tournament and coach Siasia has named his 21 players.
Restricted to players born on or after 1 January 1993 because it is an U23 event, the tournament will feature Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia and Nigeria. Drawn in Group B along with hosts Senegal, Egypt and Algeria, Nigeria will play its first game on November 29 against Mali.
Among the players in Siasia's squad are Taiwo Awoniyi, Seun Oduduwa , Sincere Seth, Junior Ajayi and Azubuike Okechukwu. Fifa 2015 U17 World Cup highest goal scorer, Victor Osimhen was at the last minute dropped from the team that includes three goalkeepers, six defenders, eight midfielders and four strikers.
Siasia had been hoping to include Iheanacho in the squad but the mercurial forward, who recently made his debut for the senior team against Swaziland, will not be available. Apparently, Manchester City has said that they cannot release the player as he is needed for its fight to retain the English Premiership.
“The initial plans I had with the player and his representative was that he would join us at least five days to the competition and also help the team till the semi-finals stage which he agreed to. However, later he told somebody very close to me that his club Manchester City is not convinced to release him again since he was dumped on the bench at the last Fifa U20 World Cup under Coach Manu Garba.
"So as it is right now, I don’t think Kelechi Iheanacho will join us again. The good news is that Junior Ajayi who is based in Tunisia has since Sunday joined us and we are expecting the team captain Azubuike Okechukwu and Taiwo Awoniyi to arrive on Tuesday so that we can have a full house to concentrate on for the tournament,” Siasia added.
He admitted that his team was still finding it difficult to score goals but vowed to work on their finishing. According to the coach, the team has been creating a lot of chances in competitive and friendly matches but the problem is that they are wasting them, which is not good for a team aspiring to win tournaments.
“We are expecting the invited foreign based strikers like Awoniyi and Junior Ajayi who have been with the team for some time before they turned professionals to use their newly garnered experience to help the team score goals in the competition. We are targeting winning the competition or better still pick one of the qualification tickets for the 2016 Olympic Games,” Siasia said.
The full squad:
Goalkeepers: Emmanuel Daniel (Enugu Rangers), Yusuf Mohammed (Kano Pillars), Emmanuel Iwu (Heartland)
Defenders: Sincere Seth (Supreme Court FC), Seun Oduduwa (Nath Boys), Zaharadeen Bello (Kano Pillars), Seun Olubayo (Sunshine Stars), Chizoba Amaefule(Dolphins), Ebuka Iroha (Diamond Football Academy)
Midfielders: Ndifreke Effiong (Abia Warriors), Usman Mohammed (FC Taraba),Tiongoli Tobara (Bayelsa United), Bature Yaro (Nasarawa United), Oghenekaro Etebo (Warri Wolves), Azubuike Okechukwu (Yeni Matalatyaspor/Turkey), Godspower Aniefiok (Kano Pillars), Stanley Dimgba (Warri Wolves)
Forwards: Kufre Ebong (Warri Wolves),Junior Ajayi (CS Sfaxien/Tunisia), Taiwo Awoniyi (FSV Frankfurt/Germany),Isaac Success (Granada CF/Spain)
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