By Kayode John
Kelechi Iheanacho, Chidera Ejuke and Bright Osayi-Samuel were the only players not available on Tuesday, as 20 Super Eagles players participated in the team’s first training session for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying game against Libya this Friday.
The team’s camp opened on Monday in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, but only Amas Obasogie and Stanley Nwabali reported from their bases. Eighteen more players arrived on Tuesday, swelling the number to 20, with just three being expected to join for the double-header.
Osayi-Samuel, who recently shook off an injury that kept him out of qualifying games against Benin Republic and Rwanda last month, Iheanacho and his clubmate, Ejuke, who has not played for the senior national team since 2021 AFCON in Cameroon, are the only absentees in the camp for now.
Nigeria will face the the Mediterranean Knights on Matchday 3 of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, before travelling for the return leg scheduled for next Tuesday.
Nigeria’s interim coach Austin Eguavoen has said his team is solely focused on the first leg and will fight for the three points against the North Africans in three days’ time.
“We are going to give Libya a fight, we will fight for those three points, every second counts and we know what it means to get the job done and over with as quickly as possible. It is going to be tough but i think at the end of the day, with the boys that we have, and the spirit, nobody is injured now. They will deliver,” he said on Tuesday.
20 Super Eagles players at Tuesday’s training session:
Amas Obasogie
Stanley Nwabali
Wilfred Ndidi
Frank Onyeka
Raphael Onyedika
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru
Victor Boniface
Samuel Chukwueze
Benjamin Tanimu
Maduka Okoye
William Troost-Ekong
Calvin Bassey
Semi Ajayi
Ademola Lookman
Bruno Onyemaechi
Taiwo Awoniyi
Alex Iwobi
Moses Simon
Alhassan Yusuf
Ola Aina
