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NOW THEY ARE 21 AS ETEBO PULLS OUT OF BRAZILIAN CLASH

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Stoke City of England’s Oghenekaro Etebo is a late withdrawal from the Super Eagles team that will face Brazil on Sunday. His withdrawal and that of Ola Aina who had a domestic accident has reduced the initial 23 players to 21.

According to the media department of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Coach Gernot Rohr has opted not to replace the two late withdrawals.

The Franco-German already replaced defender Kenneth Omeruo with Tyronne Ebuehi, while Efosa Solomon-Otabor joined the camp following France –based Samuel Kalu’s unavailability.

No reasons were offered for the stepping aside of Etebo. Sports Village Square however gathered that the remaining 21 players trained on Thursday morning and another two others will follow on Friday.

“The official training session will take place on Saturday, with the match scheduled to kick off at 1pm Nigeria time on Sunday”, the NFF stated.

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Solomon-Otabor and forward Peter Olayinka are coming into the Nigeria senior camp for the first time ever while Ebuehi returns for the first time since the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

Former junior international midfielder Ramon Azeez also makes a return, and defenders Abdullahi Shehu and Chidozie Awaziem, as well as midfielder Wilfred Ndidi are back after missing the 2-2 draw with Ukraine in Dnipro last month.

21 EAGLES TO BATTLE BRAZIL

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (Omonia FC, Cyprus); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Heartland FC); Emil Maduka Okoye (Fortuna Dusseldorf, Germany)

Defenders: Abdullahi Shehu (Bursaspor FC, Turkey); Chidozie Awaziem (CD Leganes, Spain); William Ekong (Udinese FC, Italy); Tyronne Ebuehi (SL Benfica, Portugal); Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07, Germany); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England)

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Midfielders: Alexander Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Anderson Esiti (PAOK Salonica, Greece); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Ramon Azeez (Granada FC, Spain)

Forwards: Victor Osimhen (Lille OSC, France); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Efosa Solomon-Otabor (PFC CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria); Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, Belgium); Emmanuel Dennis (Club Brugge, Belgium); Peter Olayinka (SK Slavia Prague, Czech Republic)

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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