Brentford hero Sodje backs Onyeka to step into Ndidi's shoes but worried about Super Eagles midfield 

Brentford hero Sam Sodje has backed hardworking Super Eagles midfielder Frank Onyeka to step into the shoes of Wilfred Ndidi at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria suffered a big blow ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, with Ndidi withdrawing from the squad due to a muscular injury that could see him sidelined for up to three months.

Leading up to Nigeria's opener against Equatorial Guinea next weekend, there's talk that Alhassan Yusuf would fill the void created by Ndidi's absence, something that does not hold water taking into account that the Royal Antwerp midfielder is a greenhorn at international level with no caps to his name. 

It is believed that Onyeka meets all the requirements that Peseiro is looking for in a holding midfielder as the Brentford star has played at the highest level with games under his belt in the difficult Premier League, plus Champions League and Europa League qualifiers. 

Sodje reckons that the FC Ebedei product, who has been involved in nine of the last ten matches played by the Super Eagles, is the ideal player to step into the shoes of Ndidi. 

"I'm proud of Onyeka. African football, I am not sure, but I am a big fan of him, he may have to rise to the occasion, Ndidi not being there," Sodje said to allnigeriasoccer.com.

"He would do a good job by marking and winning balls and give it to the ball players if there's any.

"I wish Onyeka well, he plays for my former club, he's a friend of mine and I meet him when I go and watch Brenftord play. 

"With the right system the Super Eagles might pull it off but I don't think we are balanced going to the AFCON."

Sodje is of the opinion that the Super Eagles lack a creative player in the mould of Austin Jay-Jay Okocha and pointed out that the squad is overloaded with strikers. 

"My worries about the midfield is we don't have any player that is going to pass that ball forward, that is going to create chances. 

"Every player that we have in the midfield now they pass sideways. It's hard to get a player who passes forward , that's why people talk about the Okochas. The reason those players were good is because they pass forward.

"Sideways passes won't win you games. I'm not trying to be negative, I am just saying that I don't think we're going to the AFCON with an unbalanced squad. 

"We took too many strikers instead of midfielders. We are going to a tournament not a league game. In tournaments, midfielders are likely to get bookings so we should have taken more creative payers in the middle and that's what we are lacking," he concluded. 
 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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