Nigeria’s national football team will take on Russia in Friday’s international friendly with a significantly altered lineup, as Head Coach Eric Chelle deals with multiple last-minute absences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Super Eagles arrived in Moscow on Monday with a mixed squad blending established stars and surprise inclusions after injuries and administrative issues disrupted original plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First-choice goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali was always scheduled to miss the match due to family obligations, leaving Udinese’s Maduka Okoye and Tanzania-based Amas Obasogie to compete for the starting position. The defensive unit remains relatively stable under captain William Ekong’s leadership, though Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina withdrew, prompting call-ups for Remo Stars’ Sodiq Ismaila and Brentford’s Benjamin Fredericks – the latter having impressed during Nigeria’s recent Unity Cup campaign. The midfield suffered a major blow with Wilfred Ndidi’s injury, creating an opportunity for Enugu Rangers’ Saviour Isaac to join the group. The home-based Eagles player will partner with European-based talents including Frank Onyeka, Raphael Onyedika and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our attacking options have been particularly affected,” admitted a team official, with Samuel Chukwueze, Kelechi Iheanacho (family commitments), Sadiq Umar (injury) and Nathan Tella (passport renewal) all unavailable. This leaves Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface, FC Nantes’ Simon Moses and Genk’s Tolu Arokodare as the primary forward options, supplemented by Russia-based Olakunle Olusegun of Krasnodar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The match at Moscow’s 78,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium will test Chelle’s adaptability as he integrates new faces into the squad. Training sessions this week will focus on building chemistry among the patchwork selection ahead of Friday’s encounter against the Russian hosts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Final Squad List:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Goalkeepers: Maduka Okoye (Udinese), Amas Obasogie (Singida Blackstars) Defenders: William Ekong (Al-Kholood), Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce), Bruno Onyemaechi (Olympiacos), Semi Ajayi (West Brom), Igoh Ogbu (Slavia Prague), Sodiq Ismaila (Remo Stars), Benjamin Fredericks (Brentford) Midfielders: Frank Onyeka (Augsburg), Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge), Fisayo Dele-Bashiru (Lazio), Christantus Uche (Getafe), Papa Daniel Mustapha (Niger Tornadoes), Saviour Isaac (Enugu Rangers) Forwards: Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen), Simon Moses (FC Nantes), Tolu Arokodare (Genk), Olakunle Olusegun (Krasnodar)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nigeria’s national football team will take on Russia in Friday’s international friendly with a significantly altered lineup, as Head Coach Eric Chelle deals with multiple last-minute absences. The Super Eagles arrived in Moscow on Monday with a mixed squad blending established stars and surprise inclusions after injuries and administrative issues disrupted original plans. First-choice goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali was always scheduled to miss the match due to family obligations, leaving Udinese’s Maduka Okoye and Tanzania-based Amas Obasogie to compete for the starting position. The defensive unit remains relatively stable under captain William Ekong’s leadership, though Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina withdrew, prompting call-ups for Remo Stars’ Sodiq Ismaila and Brentford’s Benjamin Fredericks – the latter having impressed during Nigeria’s recent Unity Cup campaign. The midfield suffered a major blow with Wilfred Ndidi’s injury, creating an opportunity for Enugu Rangers’ Saviour Isaac to join the group. The home-based Eagles player will partner with European-based talents including Frank Onyeka, Raphael Onyedika and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. “Our attacking options have been particularly affected,” admitted a team official, with Samuel Chukwueze, Kelechi Iheanacho (family commitments), Sadiq Umar (injury) and Nathan Tella (passport renewal) all unavailable. This leaves Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface, FC Nantes’ Simon Moses and Genk’s Tolu Arokodare as the primary forward options, supplemented by Russia-based Olakunle Olusegun of Krasnodar. The match at Moscow’s 78,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium will test Chelle’s adaptability as he integrates new faces into the squad. Training sessions this week will focus on building chemistry among the patchwork selection ahead of Friday’s encounter against the Russian hosts. Final Squad List: Goalkeepers: Maduka Okoye (Udinese), Amas Obasogie (Singida Blackstars) Defenders: William Ekong (Al-Kholood), Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce), Bruno Onyemaechi (Olympiacos), Semi Ajayi (West Brom), Igoh Ogbu (Slavia Prague), Sodiq Ismaila (Remo Stars), Benjamin Fredericks (Brentford) Midfielders: Frank Onyeka (Augsburg), Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge), Fisayo Dele-Bashiru (Lazio), Christantus Uche (Getafe), Papa Daniel Mustapha (Niger Tornadoes), Saviour Isaac (Enugu Rangers) Forwards: Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen), Simon Moses (FC Nantes), Tolu Arokodare (Genk), Olakunle Olusegun (Krasnodar)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-and-international-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25525,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25523\/revisions\/25525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}