An assistant coach in the Super Eagles’ technical crew, Daniel Ogunmodede has disclosed that many home-based players will be invited to the Nigerian national team for their forthcoming outing at the 2025 Unity Cup in London, England, Sports247 reports.
The competition is scheduled to run from May 27th to 31st, with Nigeria facing Ghana on the second day of the four-nation invitational, while Jamaica battle Trinidad and Tabogo in the first match a day earlier, following which the winners will play in the final and the others tango for third place.
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Incidentally, widespread reports have already started going round that out of favour captain of the main Eagles, Ahmed Musa, who now plays for Kano Pillars in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), has been invited to lead the nation’s squad for the upcoming competition.
Although Ogunmodede did not confirm the impending recall of Musa, he affirmed that a number of players from clubs in the NPFL will be invited to feature in the contests at Brentford’s GTech Stadium, especially as the schedule is outside the FIFA international window.
Ogunmodede expatiated, “The Unity Cup is an opportunity for us to see some new players that ought to be seen, inclusive of the home-based. That’s why, recently, he (the technical adviser, Eric Chelle) watched some of the Nigerian league matches.
“He watched the players and discussed with some of them. That’s why we keep saying it, that these players have to be consistent, because they don’t know who is watching them at each point in time.”
Ogunmodede, who is still the substantive head coach at Remo Stars of Ikenne, which he led to win their first NPFL title during the week, with two matches to spare, added that Chelle always discusses with him about the prospects of inviting one domestic league player or the other.
The tall tactician added, “He can say anytime, ‘I have watched this one. Maybe we could bring him in? What do you think, Daniel?’ Yes, we discuss a lot. That’s why I can say for a fact that, for this London game, a lot of home-based players will be there.
“It’s relentless work being put in by the technical crew. We are not just going there to go and sit down. We are there to work.”
Ogunmodede concluded by reaffirming the ability of the Super Eagles’ technical crew to make the best selections for the team at each point in time, but admitted that their efforts are always constrained by the limited number of days they can have together with the players in camp.
“This national team is not a gang where you think we’ll just wake up and pick a player one day, just because we like him. We put in a lot of hard work.
“You know, in the national team, you can’t have one month together … except during a competition. Even at that, you can’t have two months together. So, the little time you have together, you will have to bring in all information and link it into training in less than five days. That’s a whole lot of work,” Ogunmodede pointed out.
As it were, Sports247 gathered independently that Chelle is actually working on including some home-based players in his list of invitees for the Unity Cup, but it’s left to be seen how many lads from the NPFL will eventually make the final cut.
