Super Eagles interim coach, Austine Eguavoen, has backed Victor Boniface, Taiwo Awoniyi, Kelechi Awoniyi and other invited players to deliver the three points despite the absence of his number one choice striker, Victor Osimhen, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Nigeria take on Libya in a doubleheader game of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The first match of the doubleheader is set for Friday, October 11, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium before both sides trade tackles at the Martyrs of Benina Stadium, Libya four days later.
Unfortunately, Eguavoen will not be without Osimhen after the striker picked up an injury during Galatasaray’s 3-3 draw with Kasimpasa two weeks ago.
The 25-year-old clashed with Kasimpasa goalkeeper Andreas Gianniotis shortly after the restart of the second half of the Turkish Super Lig fixture and signalled to be substituted, raising concerns about his availability for both club and country in the coming days.
Keen to strengthen Nigeria’s position in Group D, Eguavoen is not losing sleep over the absence of the former Lille striker, backing other strikers to wreak havoc on the Mediterranean Knights.
“The boys are ready to fight for those three points. Every second counts and we know what it means to get the job done and over with as early as possible. It is going to be tough but I think at the end of the day, with the boys we have in the team they will deliver.
“It’s (Osimhen’s absence) a huge miss. We all know how important and impactful Osimhen can be, but we have other players who can step into his shoes,”
“He’s not here physically but I am 100 per cent sure that he is with us spiritually.”
The former defender emphasised that his side would not underrate the Libyans who are bottom of the Group D table.
“They (Libya) are down but it doesn’t mean that they can’t rise because they have a couple of games to play, I know they will come here and fight and we are also going to fight too. Let’s forget about the past games and look ahead to the Libya game and our focus is on the home game in front of us,” he added.
On the reports circulating on different platforms about his team selection, Eguavoen denied claims that he tried to clear the air on the invited players.
He said, “The Nigeria national team belongs to every Nigerian in the world who can play football and we cannot shut the door on anybody because we keep looking for the best and people need to understand that.
“I have always said and maintained that everybody has a chance to serve the fatherland and we have to try and seize that opportunity and make the best out of it. The boys understand because I spoke with a couple of them and because of not too much time between games they have to understand that if they are called upon they are lucky and it doesn’t mean those not called upon are not good enough.
“The understanding between the NFF and the players is very cordial, we hear a lot of things and see things on social media which are not correct 100 per cent and I don’t think I have ever discussed this list with anyone. We kept it in-house until we decided on the final 23-man list which is not so easy and then I saw on some platform that I cleared the air on why some players were invited and some were not. I didn’t speak to anybody.
“Let people just try and support me and the team because it is for Nigeria and we don’t want any distraction. Distraction is not the best thing for us right now, some people throw up some things and others on different platforms feast on them and it becomes a debate and this is not healthy.”