Iheanacho, and Onyeka joined 10 others after their clubs, Leicester and Brentford clashed in a Premier League game on Sunday
By Kehinde Okeowo
Twelve players have now arrived at the Super Eagles camp in Abuja as of Monday night after six more players joined the initial six, who had arrived earlier.
The players are camping at the Wells Carlton Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja, ahead of their double-header World Cup qualifier against our West African neighbours and arch-rivals, Ghana.
The technical crew of the team, led by Austin Eguavoen, had invited 32 players to camp in preparation for the two-legged cracker.
According to the team’s media officer, Babafemi Raji, six players – William Troost-Ekong (Watford), Semi Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion), Frank Onyeka, (Brentford), Leon Balogun (Rangers), Ola Aina (Torino FC), and Odion Ighalo (Al Hilal) were the early birds in the camp.
However, Daniel Akpeyi (Kaizer Chiefs), Ahmed Musa (Fatih Karagümrük), Oghenekaro Etebo (Walford), Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester) Shehu Abdullahi (Omonia), and Francis Uzoho (Omonia) have now joined the group ahead of the start of the training session on Tuesday.
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Nigeria take on the Black Stars of Ghana, at the Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi on Friday, 25th March, with the reverse fixture set for the MKO National Stadium, Abuja four days later at 6pm.
The winner of the two-legged encounter will secure one of Africa’s five tickets to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, scheduled for 14th November – 18th December this year.
Meanwhile, the team after losing Keneth Omeruo to Injury has now lost another prominent member of the squad, Wilfred Ndidi too.
He picked up an injury during Leicesters’ Thursday Europa Conference League away loss to Rennes and will consequently miss both legs of the qualifier against Ghana.
His replacement, Innocent Bonke, who plays for Ligue 1 club Lorient was announced on Sunday evening via Super Eagles’ Twitter handle.
Brendan Rodgers confirmed Ndidi’s injury in his post-match after the Foxes advanced into the quarter-finals, saying he may be out for a few weeks, but the latest update revealed the midfielder may be out for the rest of the season.