Nigerian Federation Call Up Replacement For Lokomotiv Moscow Star Idowu

Published: November 11, 2019

Lokomotiv Moscow defender Brian Idowu has been ruled out of Nigeria's upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin and Lesotho.

The Nigeria Football Federation have announced that the versatile left-back has withdrawn from both games owing to passport issues.

Enyimba defender Ifeanyi Anaemena has been handed a late call-up as a replacement for Idowu.

Anaemena, who has featured in the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup, becomes the second player based in the domestic championship called up for the AFCON qualifiers after goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa.

Russian-born Idowu has been out of favour since the end of the 2018 World Cup, no thanks to the emergence of SC Paderborn 07 fullback Jamilu Collins and he's also behind Ola Aina in Gernot Rohr's pecking order of fullbacks.

Since the tournament ended in Russia, the Lokomotiv Moscow man has played in only two national team matches, against Seychelles (AFCONQ) and Uganda (pre-AFCON friendly).

Idowu has been involved in all but one of the four matches contested by Lokomotiv in the group stage of this season's Champions League,which played a part in his invitation to the Super Eagles for the games against Benin and Lesotho.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel