By Kayode John
Super Eagles head coach Austin Eguavoen has commended the technical ability of the invited B squad players for next month’s 2025 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifying tie against Ghana but insisted there is a lot of work to be done.
Eguavoen spoke on Thursday after the team completed their first training session at the FIFA Goal Project Pitch in Abuja.
The coach unveiled a 35-man squad last week for the tie against the Black Galaxies for the CHAN qualifiers.
“Very impressive, only two sessions but you see that technically they are very good,” the former Super Eagles captain told NFF TV.
“We still have a lot of work to do because they are coming from different clubs and we have to see how we can blend them now, make them play as one team, as one unit and there is enough time to do that,” he told NFF TV in a chat.
Eguavoen explained that the selection of players, some of who he said have left camp for this weekend’s Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) matches, was done on merit by his technical team.
“Yes and we fell short of two yesterday (Wednesday) who joined today, so we have 35 now. Sunday is the second training session,” he said.
“Two also left this afternoon for their assignment; Plateau United players, because we had an agreement with the clubs that players can be released. We have quite a huge number. I visit league venues a lot, and also we have coaches and direct assistant coaches in the person of Ilechukwu and Ogunmodede and of course the goalkeeper coach as well.
“So there is a whole lot of players in the league, I saw some in the league as well. I also told some coaches I’ve not been able to watch their team live.
“All put together, If you compare the list that I had and the ones they gave to me; I mean my direct assistant coaches or my colleagues so to say, most of the players are on the same list. About recommendation, no, that’s not it.”
The 59-year-old stressed that he anticipates the long-standing rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana in the ‘Jollof derby’.
Eguavoen said: “I like to work hard and select the best players out of this group that we have now to face Ghana come December, we know how tough it is to play a Ghanaian team.
“Any category we meet a Ghanaian team is always tough, what we pray is for luck but for the game, we go out there and work hard; we strategise to make sure we are in next CHAN.”
Ghana will host Super Eagles B in the first leg between December 20 and December 22. while the return leg takes place in Nigeria a week later.
The winner of the tie will secure a spot at the CHAN tournament scheduled for February 1 to February 28 in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania next year.
