2021 AFCON qualifiers: Ramon Azeez Retained As Solomon Otabor, Esiti Dropped

2021 AFCON qualifiers: Ramon Azeez Retained As Solomon Otabor, Esiti Missing

Johnny Edward

BSN Sports can reveal that Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, will extend invitation to Granada midfielder Ramon Azeez while the duo of Anderson Esiti and Solomon Otabor may be dropped from list of invited players for the 2021 African Nations Qualifier against Benin Republic.

Rohr recalled Azeez back to the Eagles for the first time in five years for the clash against Brazil with the Granada midfielder posting a decent performance when he came on for Alex Iwobi in the encounter which ended 1-1 in Singapore.

But the German coach will not be extending an invitation to the duo Victor Solomon-Otabor and Anderson Esiti after the pair reportedly failed to impress in training.

“The coach was quite impressed with Azeez but Esiti, who had another chance (after the Ukraine friendly), didn’t prove he was ready to stay in the team,” a team source told Sports Extra.

“Rohr is eager to keep the competition stiffer in the team so the players know that quality players will be invited to take their places if they don’t measure up.”

Meanwhile, Maduka Okoye is in contention to make his full debut for Nigeria in the encounter in the absence of Francis Uzoho who damaged his external knee ligament and meniscus.

Okoye was picked ahead of Ikechukwu Ezenwa, who has been inactive, to replace Uzoho in the Brazil tie.

The 66-year-old coach will also be boosted with the return of Samuel Kalu and Oghenekaro Etebo for the game against Benin. Both players missed out on the game due to different issues.

Rohr’s men will face Lesotho in their match-day two AFCON qualifier in Maseru eight days later, before the qualifying series take a break for eight months before resumption in August 2020.

The top two teams from each of the 12 groups qualify for AFCON 2021 to be hosted by Cameroon.