Galatasaray of Turkey striker, Victor James Osimhen should
not be included in the Super Eagles’ squad for the upcoming four-nation
invitational competition in London, tagged 2025 Unity Cup.
Sports247 reports that this shocking verdict was
passed by a former youth international, Henry Isaac, who wants a new striker to
be tested during the forthcoming competition, where the Eagles will start with
a match against Ghana on May 28th.
Isaac, who is related to former Super Eagles’ captain,
Nwankwo Kanu, but used to be known as Henry Nwosu during his days in the Golden
Eaglets’ squad that won rhe CAF/Meridian Cup of 1997 in Portugal, added that
new players should be called up to prosecute the upcoming competition at
Brentford FC’s GTech Stadium.
He also made a case for Bayer Leverkusen of Germany
hitman, Victor Boniface and Taiwo Awoniyi from Nottingham Forest in England to
get more opportunities to prove themselves as capable backups that can be
counted on should Osimhen not be available for selection or dips in form.
The former Eintracht Frankfurt and Sankt Pauli of
Germany attacker opined boldly, “In the Super Eagles now, upfront, it’s only
Osimhen that Nigeria has. So, if Osimhen does not perform well or gives just
75%, then nothing will happen upfront.
“The likes of Victor Boniface should be tried more
often. Other strikers should also get the chance in this tournament to play the
whole matches. Let’s back the team up with strikers like Taiwo Awoniyi and
others who have not had the chance to play.”
The lanky former attacker, who also played for Sliema
Wanderers and Vittoriosa of Malta, where he hung his boots in 2012, went on to
advocate a full-scale exclusion of all regulars from the invitational
competition, which will also feature Jamaica versus Trinidad and Tobago in the
first match on May 27th, with winners of both games clashing in the final on
May 31st.
Rather than look forward to seeing all of the Super
Eagles’ star players feature at the competition in London, Isaac suggested it
should be used to experiment an alternate squad for Nigeria’s senior national
team.
He added, “Let’s even try new players that we might
discover before then. We can use this competition to try them. Nigeria has so
many players. So many strikers, so many defenders; and I believe we can see
them better in this tournament.
“Leave out the ones that are in the first eleven and
just bring new faces. From that point, you can see what to do next and how to
adjust the team. We can see those who you can put in the main team for the next
match.”
He concluded by stressing that the Unity Cup should be
used as an avenue to experiment and help Nigeria develop greenhorns who would
eventually take over from the likes of Osimhen in the current squad, which is
ironically still battling to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
“I think this tournament is a very good opportunity to
expose other players and build another team on the side … just in case. On the
other hand, as it is, if anything happens to Osimhen now, Nigeria is finished,”
concluded Isaac, who is now 45 years old.
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