The head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gareth Southgate has unveiled the list of players that will represent England during the next international round of games, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
England will take on Brazil on the 23rd of March before squaring up against Belgium three days later as part of their preparation for the upcoming Europea Championship. A total of 25 players were called up for the game.
However there was no space in the team for Crystal Palace midfielder Ebere Eze, a player who was courted by Nigeria but decided to pick England as his preferred team for international football. He presently has one cap for England at senior level and it came in the 4-0 win over Malta in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Despite that he still remains eligible for Nigeria due to the adjustment of the eligibility for nationality switch done by world football governing body FIFA. Eze who trained with the Nigerian team during their camp in the UK in 2019 hasn’t close the door on switching to Nigeria.
He was publicly courted by the former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr and also the former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick, who met with him three times in his bid to convince him to switch to Nigeria.
It remains to be seen if he will have a change of heart particularly with the World Cup 2026 drawing close.
Ade Emmanuel
