The newly appointed coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Finidi George has picked the players who will be in the squad for the first competitive game he will handle as the coach of the team, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Finidi was appointed the coach in permanent capacity after filing in as a stop gap in the friendly games against Ghana and Mali respectively, following the departure of Jose Peseiro as coach upon the expiration of his deal in February.
We can exclusively reveal that Finidi who was an assistant to Peseiro for 20 months, and was a part of the technical setup that finished second at the AFCON has decided to go for 80% of the players who were at the tournament for the games against South Africa and Benin Republic in the month of June.
Both games are in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup with Nigerian sitting 3rd in their group two points behind leaders Rwanda. The coach has decided to keep faith with the core that went to AFCON but handed a recall to a couple of others who missed out on the tournament.
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His reason is that the game isn’t the right avenue to call up new players to the team due to how crucial it is in the qyast to be at the next World Cup, but the trio of Nathan Tella, Victor Boniface, Wilfred Ndidi and Cyriel Dessers who missed out on a spot in the team for the AFCON due to varying reasons made the list.
It will be made public next week ahead of the first game against South Africa on the 7th of June in Uyo.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
