PLAYERS OF NIGERIAN DESCENT TAKES OVER ENGLAND  UNDER 20 AND 21.

 A host of Super Eagles hopefuls based in England has been handed call ups by various English youth cadres.
In the Under 20 squad, Fikayo Tomori of Chelsea FC, Ovie Ejaria who was a training material for the Manu Garba Under 17 squad that conquered the world with the likes of Isaac Success and Kelechi Iheanacho has been called up by the English Under 20 Coach.

Ejaria has  since grown to be labelled as the next Patrick Viera, Paul Pogba in football. He recently made his full debut with Liverpool senior Team after fringes of eye-catching performances at the Liverpool Pre-season Matches.
Josh Onomah only recently was in the Totenham's squad that was narrowly beaten by liverpool . Josh Onomah competed very well against his Anglo-Nigerian opponent, Ovie Ejaria such performance that he was rewarded with invitation to the English  Under 20 team.
Ademola lookman of Chalton Athletic and Dominic Solanke who was recently linked with Arsenal FC is also in the list.
In the Under 21 side, Dominic Iorfa, who plays as a right back for Wolverhampton Wanderers has been a regular for the championship side that also parades the likes of Super Eagles number 1 goalkeeper Carl Ikeme.
Tammy Abraham who has been pouncing in goals for Bristol city FC was also recognised in the list. Only recently the NFF chairman has boasted that he was going to convince Tammy to dump the three lions and don the green white green of Nigeria.


England U20 Squad

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Grimsby Town, loan from Manchester United), Luke Southwood (Reading), Freddie Woodman (Newcastle United)

Defenders: Jake Clarke-Salter (Bristol Rovers, loan from Chelsea), Callum Connolly (Everton), Dael Fry (Rotherham United, loan from Middlesbrough), Jonjoe Kenny (Everton), Tafari Moore (FC Utrecht, loan from Arsenal), Taylor Moore (Bristol City), Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea), Axel Tuanzebe (Manchester United), Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Kieran Dowell (Everton), Ovie Ejaria (Liverpool), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), Joshua Onomah (Tottenham Hotspur), Louis Reed (Sheffield United)

Forwards: Adam Armstrong (Barnsley, loan from Newcastle United), Isaiah Brown (Rotherham United, loan from Chelsea), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Harrison Chapman (Sheffield United, loan from Middlesbrough), Ademola Lookman (Charlton Athletic), Patrick Roberts (Celtic, loan from Manchester City), Dominic Solanke (Chelsea)

England U21 Squad

Goalkeepers: Angus Gunn (Manchester City), Jonny Mitchell (Derby County), Jordan Pickford (Sunderland)

Defenders: Calum Chambers (Middlesbrough, loan from Arsenal), Brendan Galloway (West Bromwich Albion, loan from Everton), Kortney Hause (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Rob Holding (Arsenal), Dominic Iorfa (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Alfie Mawson (Swansea City), Jack Stephens (Southampton)

Midfielders: Lewis Baker (Vitesse Arnhem, loan from Chelsea), Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea), Isaac Hayden (Newcastle United), Will Hughes (Derby County), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), John Swift (Reading), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur)

Forwards: Tammy Abraham (Bristol City, loan from Chelsea), Demarai Gray (Leicester City), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Nathan Redmond (Southampton), Duncan Watmore (Sunderland)

EUROPA LEAGUE WRAP

There were a number of eye-catching performances by Nigerian players on match day four in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Onyinye Ndidi started and clocked up ninety minutes as Racing Genk lost out an eight-goal thriller against Athletic at San Mamés Barria (Bilbao) Club .

The midfielder netted his second goal in the competition in the 51st minute to bring the scoreline to 3-2. He was yellow carded in the third minute of second half stoppage time.

At the Austrian capital, former Nigeria U20 international Olarenwaju Kayode opened scoring after two minutes as Austria Vienna lost 4-2 to AS Roma on his 24th appearance of the season in all competitions.
Emmanuel Emenike fired blancks in Fernabahce vs Man United match.

The number eight was booked in the seventh minute and was substituted with 19 minutes remaining.

Group G
Ajax 3-2 Celta Vigo
Panathinaikos 0-3 Standard Liege
Group H
Braga 2-1 Konyaspor
Gent 3-5 Shakhtar Donetsk
Group I
Nice 0-2 Salzburg
Schalke 2-0 FC Krasnodar
Group J
Fiorentina 3-0 Slovan Liberec
PAOK Thessaloniki 0-1 Qarabag
Group K
Southampton 2-1 Inter
Sparta Prague 2-0 Hapoel Beer Sheva
Group L
FC Zurich 0-0 Steaua Bucuresti
Villarreal 1-2 Osmanlispor

Family Denies Ebuehi’s Withdrawal, Insist He Will Play For Nigeria

The controversy surrounding Tyronne Ebuehi’s withdrawal from the Nigeria squad for the World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Algeria has taken a different twist.
20 year old Ebuehi, who is also eligible to play for the Netherlands was called up for the first time by Nigeria, but in a rather bizarre twist, the ADO Den Haag full back rejected the call in an interview on the website of his club.
“I see it as a great honor that I am noted in my homeland,” says Ebuehi.
“But at this moment ADO Den Haag requires my full attention. Especially now that I am settled in the team. Therefore, it doesn’t seems to me like the right time to travel to Nigeria for the match. I want to focus completely on the club . but I certainly do not rule out playing for Nigeria in the future, if the next time am called up ” He told the club official website.
The president of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick, who revealed he has spoken with the father over his son’s withdrawal.
” It’s not true. His agent (Wessel Weezenberg) is behind that statement, it was done without the consent of the player. As a matter of fact his father confidently told me that he will play for Nigeria” He told Owngoalnigeria.com.
” For now, we don’t know why the agent is trying to block him from Nigeria. He earlier denied contact with Nigeria over his services. But we are speaking with his family. We have their word. He will play for Nigeria”.

Mikel brings a lot to the team, he will play.

Head coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr says captain of the Nigeria senior national team John Mikel Obi will keep on playing for Nigeria, despite his limited playing time for Chelsea.
Mikel is yet to play a competitive game for Chelsea under new manager Antonio Conte, but in that same period of time. The 29 year old has played twice for Nigeria.
He even refuted Conte’s claims that injury is why he isn’t playing for Chelsea, and went a step further by starring for Nigeria in their 2-1 win over Zambia in the World Cup 2018 qualifiers game.
However Rohr who warned players of the team to sort out their club forms or forget playing for Nigeria, backtracked on his captain insisting he is an exception to his rule on club form.
” Mikel brings a lot of to the team. We have a very young team. He motivates them on the pitch, his work ethics is an inspiration to the young players in the team. Such players can’t be left out of a national team”
” As long he isn’t injured and trains regularly, am okay. For now he is one of the most important player in our team”.

Ikeme to be fit before Algeria clash

Fears concerning the availability of Nigeria number one shot stopper Carl Ikeme ahead of Nigeria crucial World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Algeria has been dispelled by the coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers Rob Edwards.
The 29 year old shot stopper has established himself as Nigeria’s first choice goalkepper since Vincent Enyeama quit the team, after a disagreement with former coach Sunday Oliseh.
Interim Coach of Wolves Edwards while confirming that Ikeme won’t be between the sticks for Wolves in the Derby game against Derby County, however revealed that his injury will only require few days before he is passed fit.
“We’re going to try and reduce the inflammation. He’s touch and go and we’ll know more in a few days”. He said.
Ikeme was withdrawn at half time with a sore hip and has strained his oblique muscle.The Nigeria international was replaced by Andy Lonergan during the 1-1 draw with Blackburn

 Mahrez, Slimani, Feghouli and Guedioura Headlines Algeria attack against Nigeria.

 

 

 

 

 

The Algerian Football Federation in conjunction with newly appointed manager Georges Leekens have announced the roster for their World Cup qualifier against Nigeria on November 12.

For the time being, the Belgian tactician has summoned only 18 foreign-based professionals for the game, and he will wait for the outcome of the game between MCA and USMA before announcing the local players that are in line to travel to Uyo for the match day fixture.

Four Premier League stars in the shape of Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Islam Slimani (Leicester City), Adlène Guedioura (Watford) and Sofiane Feghouli (West Ham United) have been handed an opportunity to add to their international caps having made the squad list announced on Tuesday morning.

An analysis of the roster revealed that one goalkeeper, five defenders, nine midfielders and three strikers have been invited for the trip to Nigeria.

Algeria Foreign-Based Professionals Invited

Goalkeepers (1) : Rais M’Bolhi (Antalyaspor, Turkey)

Defenders (5) : Hicham Belkaroui (ES Tunis), Aissa Mandi (Real Betis, Spain), Carl Medjani (CD Leganés, Spain), Liassine Cadamuro (Servette Geneva, Switzerland), Faouzi Ghoulam (Napoli, Italy)

Midfielders (9) : Nabil Betaleb (Schalke 04, Germany), Mehdi Abeid (Dijon FCO, France), adlène guedioura (Watford FC, England), Sapphire Taïder (Bologna FC, Italy), Ryad Boudebouz (Montpellier Hérault, France), Yacine Brahimi (FC Porto Portugal), Sofiane Feghouli (West Ham United, England), Rachid Ghezzal (Olympique Lyon, France), Adam Ounas (Bordeaux, France).

Attackers (3) : Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City, England), Islam Slimani (Leicester City, England), Hilal Soudani El Arabi (Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia)

Jurgen identifies the problem with Alberto Moreno

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claims that the problem with left-back Alberto Moreno is that he is “sometimes he’s a little bit too passionate in defending”.
The Spaniard was dropped after the opening Premier League game against Arsenal ended 4-3, with James Milner taking his place.
With Milner ill, Moreno returned against Crystal Palace on Saturday and contributed with an assist in a performance full of running.
“There was never a doubt about Alberto,” said the man who dropped him.
“He is a young player and needs to learn a lot of things. Sometimes he’s a little bit too passionate in defending. But he is still young and can learn things.
“You see he is quick, has a good left foot, a good attitude and runs up and down, up and down. It’s nice for a manager to work with boys like this. We have to work together and we do – all good.”