The senior national team of Nigeria have stepped up preparations for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sao Tome and Principe in Uyo, OwnGoalNigeria.com.
Super Eagles are already through to the tournament, which will take place in Cote d’Ivoire next year making the game which is their last in the qualifiers a formality, but players are using the chance to push for a spot in the team for the world cup qualifiers in November.
We picked five things we noticed during their training yesterday.
Torunarigha bonds with Collins – Newly invited Gent of Belgium defender Jordan Torunarigha has formed an instant bond with Cardiff City left back Jamilu Collins who is staging a return to the team. Their bond can be traced down to the fact that they both speak German making it easy for communication between the duo, even though Jordan also speaks and understand English.
Onyemaechi Favorite To Start At Left Back – Boavista defender Bruno Onyemaechi will for sure get the nod to start at left back on Sunday. He appears to have won the coaching crew over with his all action play in training giving him an edge in the battle with the duo of Calvin Bassey and Jamilu Collins.
Boniface, Orban Shine In Shooting Practice – The newly invited duo of Victor Boniface and Gift Orban were the most impressive during a shooting exercise among the players. Boniface who plays for Bayer Leverkusen hit target with all of his efforts while Gent of Belgium Orban went a step further by firing all his efforts into goal.
Battle For Number One Hots Up- All three goalkeepers in the camp of the team namely Francis Uzoho, Adebayo Adeleye and Leke Ojo are all battling for who will start in goal, but it seems it’s now a battle between the duo of Uzoho and Adeleye.
During drills with the goakeeper trainer and test game both of them put up exceptional performance with Uzoho keen on wrestling back his number one spot, which was filled by Adeleye while he was absent through suspension for the team’s last qualifiers game against Benin Republic.
Uyo Should Be Permanent Home For Super Eagles – For the first time in four years players of the Super Eagles didn’t grumble or show unhappiness over the state of the playing surface. They all expressed their happiness over the state of the pitch unlike previous pitches in Nigeria.
Osas Mahawi
