Stoke City midfielder Oghenekaro Etebi is the latest player to pull out of Nigeria’s friendly encounter against the Selecao of Brazil, reports Completesports.com.
Etebo’s withdrawal from the game was announced by the Nigeria Football Federation on Thursday.
Head coach of the team, Gernot Rohr now has 21 players at his disposal ahead of the game.
Rohr opted not to call any more players following the withdrawal of Etebo, and Wednesday’s withdrawal of defender Olaoluwa Aina as a result of injury.
The Franco-German already replaced defender Kenneth Omeruo with Tyronne Ebuehi, while Efosa Solomon-Otabor joined the camp following France –based Samuel Kalu’s unavailability.
Solomon-Otabor and forward Peter Olayinka are coming into the Nigeria senior camp for the first time ever while Ebuehi returns for the first time since the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.
Former junior international midfielder Ramon Azeez also makes a return, and defenders Abdullahi Shehu and Chidozie Awaziem, as well as midfielder Wilfred Ndidi are back after missing the 2-2 draw with Ukraine in Dnipro last month.
The game will take place on Sunday at the Singapore National Stadium. Kick-off is 1pm Nigerian time.
21 EAGLES TO BATTLE BRAZIL
Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (Omonia FC, Cyprus); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Heartland FC); Emil Maduka Okoye (Fortuna Dusseldorf, Germany)
Defenders: Abdullahi Shehu (Bursaspor FC, Turkey); Chidozie Awaziem (CD Leganes, Spain); William Ekong (Udinese FC, Italy); Tyronne Ebuehi (SL Benfica, Portugal); Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07, Germany); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England)
Midfielders: Alexander Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Anderson Esiti (PAOK Salonica, Greece); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Ramon Azeez (Granada FC, Spain)
Forwards: Victor Osimhen (Lille OSC, France); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Efosa Solomon-Otabor (PFC CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria); Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, Belgium); Emmanuel Dennis (Club Brugge, Belgium); Peter Olayinka (SK Slavia Prague, Czech Republic)
16 Comments
Haba! Kalu, Omeruo, Aina, and now Etebo. All four would have made the first 11. Well, I sincerely hope the other guys will rise up to the occasion.
Moses Simon to replace Kalu, Ajayi for Omeruo, Abdullahi for Aina and Azeez for Etebo.
I wish SE the very best.
Without Etebo you will all realize his value with the super eagles because most time i read dirty comments disregarding his contribution. Now those of you who are his critics will learn from his absence.
Senegal got a result from Brazil but i don’t think Nigeria can i just need to be honest instead of joining millions of unrealistic dreamers after all its a friendly so come sunday i will watch and enjoy the grove let the best team win.
I think that Rohr should play 4-3-3 formation with Awazeem, Ekong, Ebehi and Collins on the defence line and Aribo, Iwobi and Ndidi on the Mid-field and Chukwueze, Osimeh and Moses Simon leading the Attack.
…on the flip side, this seems like a bit of good news. Its time to test what new partnerships we can have in that midfield with Ndidi.
This might be the last chance for Esiti to stake a claim for a place in the eagles. He didnt cover himself in glory against Ukraine the last time out.
With the ‘lean’ resources we have in camp at the moment, I would fancy a 352 formation against brazil on sunday. Aliou Cisse played similarly today, added to plenty of physicality and it did stiffle the brazilians a bit. I think we can borrow a leaf from our west african brothers for sunday’s encounter.
I just wish we can be more African than European in our approach that day. That is where the likes of Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon always edge us out. When we are busy playing our European ajebo style, they turn up with their African jambody and often ace us out of the contest before we know whats up.
Wow first time in history that I will agreed with you but you spoiled it towards the end lol.
Well, you are still learning though lol. Your Oga Ayphillydegreat won’t teach you that but only epe sękęrę both of you sabi rępętę lolz. Chai. Doctor, Doctor, Dr. Drey himself. Well spoken sha. It is well. God bless Nigeria!!!
In my opinion I think Ndidi should take the place of Etebo.So we have Aribo and Iwobi making up the three man midfield that should just be fine.
@Dr. Drey, Coach Aliou Cisse played 4-5-1 formation today though with Koulibaly and Salif Sane partnering each other in defence
…im sorry..but most of the times, i saw 3 central defenders in the back 3, Koulibally (No 3), Sane (No 6) and Racine (no 12). Diatta was working the left side of midfield while Lamine gassame was marauding down the right
As usual eagles will perform wonders in the 1st half .but second half dey will show us again y dey are super eagles we use to know again.. .. abI I lie. Ukraine Algeria I e
…against Burundi, we scored the wining goal in the 2nd half…..against guinea, we scored the wining goal in the 2nd half…….against cameroon, we scored the wining goal in the 2nd half…..against SA, we scored the wining goal in the 2nd half…..
So…???
Against madagas car
I don’t think it is reasonable to expect or demand victory in this game against Brazil. There is a reason why they are ranked much higher than us. Yes, we might beat them, that might happen. But the odds are against us. A dog going into a fight with a lion has no choice but to exercise extreme caution. For me, I would be over the moon if we beat Brazil, or get a draw. If the likely result occurs, which is defeat, I would understand, as long as I see good football and a reasonable effort from our lads. What I don’t want to see is a hammering. Losing by more than 3 goals will not be acceptable. Rohr that I have been supporting all this while will see my other side if this happens. Etebo will be missed, but we have capable replacements. Let’s play this football the way we know we can. If we play like we did in the first half against Ukraine for 90 mins, we should be fine. And please, please, please…..our strikers should stop selling fish. Selfishness robbed us of victory against Ukraine. This must not repeat itslef. The players should work together to achieve a result that Nigerians can be proud of.
Well said but the football minors are quickly catching up with the elite ones.
A couple of decades ago you would expect a hammering against a African side but Brazil was matched by a good Senegalese team,because top African sides now have numerous players in the top five leagues in Europe which the elite sides that Brazil are classed plays,so the gap is now so close.
Apparently,I won’t be surprised a African side gets to the later stages of the world cup in Qatar.We are that close.
I will not be surprised we get a result against Brazil,it won’t be huge like it would have been years back because we are getting closer in quality and our players equally plays in the top five leagues in Europe.I would say the difference is that the Brazilians play in the elite teams of the top five leagues in Europe but that doesn’t make them indestructible with good strategies.
I believe a 3-5-2 formation should be used…because it brings team work,with semi ajayi the middle of the 3 men(cause of his pace incase of a through ball from brazil)..the ekong at the left and awazeium on the right..i would go for ebuehi on the right flank(because of his contribution to the attack and also defense unlike abdullahi)while jamilu should be placed on the left flank..then the trio combo of aribo,ndidi and iwobi should governor the midfield(iwobi on the left,aribo on the right,ndidi in the deep center)..while oshimen and chukwueze or dennis as the forward..GOD bless NIGERIA..
I like this line up! I also think 3 centerbacks is necessary against opponents like this. Just like it served us well in the 4-2 win over Argentina. The only change I would make is to play KING EKONG in the middle between Awaziem on the right and Ajayi on the left. Ekong in the middle is better because he is almost unbeatable in the air, and from the vantage middle position, he will dominate all the aerial balls. The two forwards of Osimhen and Chukwueze is a great idea. Osimhen will be making runs, dragging defenders all over the place, leaving Chukwueze to wreck havoc. The only problem is the selfishness, especially of Chukwueze. If they combine together unselfishly, we just might be smiling like the cheshire cat at the end of the match.
During jay jay era along oliseh. Nigeria Controls the midfield like a dictator against brazil argentina spain bulgeria even england. Then our strikers where always to be blamed for losing matches and also defends that was when football made in naija was popular as our pride. I remember peopl will always agree that we played the entire game but lost by an error. Even pelle and maradona confirm that. Why becos mister wrstehof was scouting for players in the owl country just like siasia, keshi, manu garba and amunike does with the under seventy and we saw the results so far back to back victory. Look at siasia at the olimpics he didnt have iheanacho or mikel at the first turnament no ndidi no big names. Etebo was just coming up and if u watch very well we dont have that same olimpic etebo again he lost everything why becos of so called europe clubs. Siasia make us proud with home based boys and little name players playin in low level leagues like some people call them all the time in this forum. Me i call them goodplayers. A good player to me is an individual who plays football verry well. They are everywhere in the world not only in realmadrid and man united or chelsea. Infact these clubs buy them to entertain their fans. They do not make them. Infact if a player doesnt have the right key to this tune of futball u canot make it even if ur father is zidan. All these games of olympic 1996
1994 wcup siasia final and thirdplace olympic medals. under 20 2005 silver. 2013 gold. with sunday mba coming from enyimba to distabalise the so called big dons of cote d voir and burkinafaso. keshi was one of nigerians first foreign based player but was never crazy over them during his coachin time with eagls and our 5 under 17 gold. All these games where sweet to watch on and on not only bicos we won, we always dominate and possess the ball more than oponents. Now we are begging average players to play for us so bad that @pompei is even hopeless on the result calling eagles dog against lions anyway no blame to you i blame dstv wey make una they watch premier league and other 4 so called world best league. Russia bit spain with their wclass players. Egypt beat italy and almost kill brazil with their homebase even costarica defeated england uroguay italy rish quaters lostvon penalties to holand. Dem nor get realmadrid players. We nigeria have killed our own becos we nor they see them for dstv wat a shame. If u know ur self and remain onknown to others that is wen u can bit the europeans and brasil. We saw babatunde against argentina for worldcup wen mikel his own shadow in that game. My last question to you all is aribo better than kelechi nwakali?