2022 World Cup playoff : Eight things to note on Nigeria's starting lineup vs Ghana

Nigeria's interim boss Augustine Eguavoen has announced his starting lineup for the eagerly anticipated 2022 World Cup playoff against Ghana at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Friday evening.

Allnigeriasoccer.com brings you eight things to note on the starting lineup to face the Black Stars.

1) The eleven players have an average age of 25.45 years, with Leon Balogun the oldest at 33.

2) Three players are aged 23 and younger : Francis Uzoho, Samuel Chukwueze and Victor Osimhen. The trio have won the FIFA U17 World Cup in the past.

3) Seven of the players named in the starting XI also started the Super Eagles 1-0 loss to Tunisia in their last competitive match. Three other starters in Leon Balogun, Innocent Bonke and Victor Osimhen were not in the AFCON squad, while Uzoho was on the bench.

4) Victor Osimhen and Moses Simon will both earn their seventh consecutive start in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the only players to have started all the games played by the national team in the qualifiers this cycle.

5) William Troost-Ekong is captaining the Super Eagles for the fifth time in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The team won two, drew one and lost the other match with the Watford center back wearing the armband in previous WCQs.

6) If he makes an appearance off the bench, Leganes center-back Kenneth Omeruo will join 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning goalkeeper Emmanuel Okala as the fourteenth most capped Nigerian player in history with 59 caps.

7) Joe Aribo and Innocent Bonke are starting a game together in midfield for the first time. The only time they previously played together was on October 10, 2021 when the Lorient star entered the game as a sub in the 74th minute against Central African Republic.