'They have fast players on the wings, tall players upfront' - Ghana coach wary of Lookman, Simon, Iheanacho, Dessers

On Friday evening, the Super Eagles will do battle with another West African heavyweight Ghana in a glamour friendly at Stade de Marrakech in Morocco.

Ahead of the friendly,Black Stars coach Otto Addo spoke about the quality of the Nigeria side, highlighting that they quality players on the wings and tall players who can make a difference. 

For the training camp in Morocco, interim Nigeria coach Finidi George has handed call-ups to tricky and pacey wingers Ademola Lookman, Moses Simon and Nathan Tella, while Cyriel Dessers, Kelechi Iheanacho and Umar Sadiq are all above six feet tall in terms of their height. 

In what is Finidi's first game in the Nigeria dugout, he won't be playing with his strongest starting lineup on paper, with the likes of Victor Osimhen, Victor Boniface, Ola Aina, Zaidu Sanusi, William Troost-Ekong, who are all members of the ideal starting XI, not available for selection due to fitness issues. 

Addo also noted that the Super Eagles are solid at the back but stressed that the Black Stars can exploit Nigeria's weaknesses. 

"They have really, really strong and experienced players, even though I guess not all of them are here. I think they have a very, very strong squad," Addo said to the official webpage of the Ghana Football Association. 

"We expect them to be very hard to break against the bal lbut also with the ball, which you saw at the Africa Cup of Nations, they are really good in offensive transmissions, they have fast players on the wings, tall players upfront who can hold the ball no matter who comes, with a really, really soid back chain so it's going to be tough.

"But we know what we can do and we know how to play against such a host and even though they went to the final, they showed in some matches that they are vulnerable so anything can happen.

"I'm just hoping we get a good start and we can end this game as the winning team."

Otto Addo will not be able to count on the services of Premier League stars Mohammed Kudus (West Ham United) and Thomas Partey (Arsenal) in today's friendly versus Nigeria. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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