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By Abiodun Adewale.
Fenerbahce defender, Bright Osayi-Samuel, is the last Eagle to team up with the rest of the squad for Sunday’s 2023 AFCON qualifier against Sierra Leone in Liberia, as he joins the team for Wednesday’s (today) training session at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
PUNCH Sports Extra gathered that the defender arrived at the Super Eagles camp last night and having missed two training sessions already, will join the rest of the team from today’s session before the team departs for Liberia via a chartered flight on Saturday morning.
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, who also missed the first training session on Monday, was part of Tuesday’s closed session, having arrived at the camp on Monday night.
Meanwhile, Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro has expressed confidence in the four home-based players he invited to the national team for the Sierra Leone encounter.
In the 23-man squad released last week, Peseiro handed invitations to goalkeeping duo Victor Sochima of Rivers United and Enyimba’s Olorunleke Ojo just as Rivers United left-back Ebube Duru, who returned to the fold, while Bendel Insurance midfielder Divine Nwachukwu got a fresh call-up.
The four home-based stars are joined by 19 others from abroad as the Eagles prepare for the game at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos.
The Portuguese coach spoke highly of the just-concluded Nigeria Professional Football League Super 6 playoffs after watching all the 15 matches during the competition.
“For me the NPFL Super 6 was a good competition because I could see the best teams. Of course, there are good players in other teams but I could concentrate on the few. Sometimes I wanted to visit many cities to watch the NPFL but due to logistics I couldn’t but it was good to see all of them in Lagos.
“Despite the fact that the players played five matches in about 10 days, they gave their best and congratulations to Enyimba the champions and all other teams,” Peseiro said.
“You know we can have only 19 players from abroad and the rest from the league. I chose four and I’m sure there are other good players for other positions in the league, but I selected these four for specific positions. They are all Nigerians and I believe in them as well,” the coach said.
A win against the Leone Stars will guarantee Nigeria’s place at next year’s AFCON in Ivory Coast as the Eagles lead the qualifying Group A with nine points. In the other group match today, Guinea-Bissau, who are behind Nigeria on seven points, will hope to take advantage to topple the Eagles as they play Sao Tome and Principe.