Following the injuries to Victor Osimhen and Umar Sadiq, supporters of the three-time African champion Super Eagles are eager to see who will step up when the Eagles take on the Algerian Desert Foxes on Tuesday in Oran.
On the first day of the Champions League in Naples, Osimhen was hurt during Napoli’s 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool. Few people were concerned because they believed that new Real Sociedad head coach Sadiq, who had a strong start to the season, would replace Osimhen’s spot in the Eagles attack.
Sadiq would suffer an injury that same weekend, though, that could have prevented him from playing the balance of the 2022–23 campaign.
Although Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro prefers a two-man front, as demonstrated by Osimhen in the AFCON qualifying matches against Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and Principe, one would lead the attack while the other plays a supporting role.
Other attackers now have a significant opportunity to establish their claims for a starting spot as the Eagles’ standout player.
Five of the 10 players Peseiro invited to the friendly match may play in the centre of the forward line.
Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City, Terem Moffi of FC Lorient, Cyriel Dessers of Cremonese, Taiwo Awoniyi of Nottingham Forest, and Emmanuel Dennis and Henry Onyekuru were all sidelined by injury.
With six goals in eight Ligue 1 games this season, Moffi is the most productive Nigerian striker right now and is the front-runner to spearhead the Eagles’ attack in the absence of Osimhen and Sadiq.
Since the team’s camp was established in Constantine, Moffi, who scored twice against Sao Tome in June, has excelled in every practise.
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George Finidi, an assistant coach for the Eagles, urged the 23-year-old to take the opportunity to play with the first squad.
Finidi told PUNCH Sports Extra, “Moffi has to do all he has to do to make it into the starting team.”
Awoniyi’s odds aren’t very good. Despite having two goals, the most by a Nigerian player in the EPL, he has had a sluggish start to his debut Premier League season with Nottingham Forest after a stellar 2021/22 campaign in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin.
Awoniyi played for the Eagles in the 2-2 draw against Algeria’s B squad on Friday in Constantine, and after the game, he lamented his failure to score.
“Every striker wants to score a goal, as I often say, but there are other responsibilities for strikers besides goals. Your job as a striker is to score goals and assist your teammates, so it’s also important to get your teammates involved in play and into scoring positions. Of course, I always want to score.
Iheanacho is another Nigerian who has had a sluggish start to the Premier League season. In six EPL outings for Leicester, who are already fighting to stay afloat, the Manchester City academy product has one goal.
Iheanacho last played for Nigeria in the Eagles’ unsuccessful World Cup qualification attempt against Ghana in March.
In a narrow victory over Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in January, the 25-year-old scored Nigeria’s lone goal, his 12th overall for the green and white.
Peseiro is eager to work with the players he worked with during his most recent cycle of international duties, so it’s unlikely that he will just waltz into the starting lineup.
Dessers hadn’t scored a goal for his new Serie A team Cremonese since signing at the end of the summer transfer window, so he wasn’t expected to make a case for the starting lineup before Friday’s game against Algeria B.
Despite having three goals in three games for KRC Genk before moving to Italy, he still hasn’t scored in six Serie A games.
Dessers put his club troubles behind him to score his second Nigeria goal and make it 2-1 for the Eagles against Algeria on Friday. Aymen Mahious then tied the game for Algeria.
Nigerians are eager to see the team that Peseiro will produce to face an Algerian team that is captained by Manchester City attacker Riyad Mahrez after recent disappointments.
Peseiro would be eager to halt the Eagles’ current three-game losing run against the Foxes, and choosing the appropriate player to lead his side’s charge would go a long way toward ensuring that his team achieves the desired outcome.
Africa Today News, New York