Eguavoen assures Super fans he's keeping tabs on every player; will closely watch FCK newbie

Augustine Eguavoen has assured Super Eagles fans that he's keeping tabs on every player worthy of an invitation to the Nigerian national team.

In naming his squad list for the 2022 World Cup playoff vs Ghana, Eguavoen has invited majority of the players who were part of the team to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Former England youth international Ademola Lookman and FC Copenhagen newbie Akinkunmi Amoo are the two new faces in the squad and Eguavoen has revealed that he will closely monitor the latter when the Super Eagles camp begins.

Although Amoo is a player with potential, his maiden call-up to the Super Eagles was controversial to say the least given that he had been inactive for three months.

Speaking to  Elegbete TV Sports, Eguavoen stated : "Now all these boys that are coming apart from the ones that are on standby, like the young one from Denmark, is an opportunity to watch them closely.

"We have the eleven that will start, we have the ones that will stop them to see how far the fitness level is.

"The camp or the opportunity is still very wide open for everyone. We don't need distractions, all we need is support to cross this hurdle and opportunity to bring in one, two or three players that we can have a look at.

"Unfortunately Covid-19 has disrupted a whole lot of things so there are no much windows to start trying players."

Eguaoven went on to explain why he fielded almost an entirely different starting lineup for the dead rubber clash against Guinea-Bissau at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and vowed to do the same again but at the right time.

"That was why in our third game in Cameroon, having qualified, almost the entire team was changed just to have a look at other players who have not had a chance to play.

"After this the qualifiers for Ivory Coast 2023 will start, after that the World Cup proper will start. If there's an opportunity within I can guarantee you we can play with another different reserve eleven but the opportunity has not presented itself, so we have to manage the situation.

"We are keeping tabs on everybody, we're watching everyone so the slightest opportunity we have to bring in somebody we will do it.

"I'm not neglecting anybody, I can tell you that from the bottom of my heart."

There is no room for error or experimentation when Nigeria face off with Ghana in back-to-back matches this month, with a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at stake.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel