Alanyaspor of Turkey defender Chidozie Awaziem might not kick a ball for the senior national team of Nigeria after suffering a relapse in his bid to recover from injury, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Awaziem turned up at the camp of the senior national team prior to the tournament Injured from a league game in Turkey and missed their last two games before resuming with the Nigerian team in Abuja.
The defender according to a team source told officials of the team that he will be fit to return to action three days after his arrival in camp, and true to his words he was back in training but they noticed he wasn’t his usual self.
He continued training with the team in preparation for the tournament and even played some part in the test game against Coton Sport which they won 2-0. He however suffered a relapse a day to the opening game against Egypt.
Angry officials of the team believe he hid the serious nature of the injury in order to make the squad for the tournament, with fears emerging that he might not play a game as early reports say he could be out for two weeks.
It means Semi Ajayi will now step up to the role of third central defender with the duo of William Troost Ekong and Kenneth Omeruo the preferred first choice pairing. Olisa Ndah will be the back up for the aforementioned trio.
