•Drops Moffi, Adeleye
Tremendous Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro, has included eight debutants in his closing 25-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, Saturday PUNCH stories.
They’re goalkeepers, Stanley Nwabili and Olorunleke Ojo; defenders, Vivid Osayi-Samuel, Bruno Onyemaechi, Calvin Bassey and Raphael Onyedika.
Others are Atalanta winger Ademola Lookman and Victor Boniface.
OGC Good striker Terem Moffi and winger Nathan Tella, who performs in Germany for Bayer Leverkusen, have each been dropped.
Additionally excluded from the ultimate crew listing are Adebayo Adeleye and Kelechi Nwakali.
However captain Ahmed Musa and his assistant William Troost-Ekong who has been out of the crew for months will play of their third consecutive finals after making the squad for the event which kicks off on January 13.
The occasion additionally contains 4 gamers Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey and Frank Onyeka from the English Premier League making the ultimate listing.
2009 U-17 World Cup star Kenneth Omeruo (the one different candidate within the crew other than Musa who was in Nigeria’s 2013 squad that triumphed in South Africa) leads the defenceline alongside William Ekong, in addition to Olaoluwa Aina, Oluwasemilogo Ajayi, Calvin Bassey, Zaidu Sanusi, Chidozie Awaziem, Vivid Osayi-Samuel and Bruno Onyemaechi.
Wilfred Ndidi can also be again within the roost after lacking the World Cup qualifying matches in opposition to Lesotho and Zimbabwe, and might be anticipated to adequately feed the strike drive alongside Alex Iwobi, Raphael Onyedika, Joe Ayodele-Aribo and Frank Onyeka.
Musa, Nigeria’s report goalscorer on the FIFA World Cup finals with a brace every in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, is within the forward-line alongside Africa Participant of the Yr Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, Samuel Chukwueze, Victor Boniface, Sadiq Umar and Ademola Lookman.
All of the 25 gamers will depart from their totally different bases on Tuesday, 2nd January to fly into Abu Dhabi, capital metropolis of the United Arab Emirates, for a one-week coaching camp that can final till January 9. The crew will fly again to Lagos that very same day after which fly into the Ivoirian capital, Abidjan the next day.
Three-time winners Nigeria will face the hosts, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea in Group A.
The Eagles, of their quest for a fourth continental title, will tackle Equatorial Guinea on January 14 of their first match of Group A, earlier than additional clashes with host nation Ivory Coast January 18 and Guinea Bissau January 22.
Nigeria, who might be taking part within the Africa Cup of Nations for the twentieth time, have been champions as hosts in 1980, triumphant in Tunisia in 1994 and topped winners in South Africa in 2013.
When Ivory Coast hosted the finals in 1984, a younger Nigerian squad led by the inimitable Stephen Keshi went all the way in which to the Last, earlier than shedding to the much-experienced Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in a memorable Last on the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan.