Hull City of England central defender, Semi Ajayi and Olympiacos of Greece left-wing-back, Bruno Onyemaechi will both miss Nigeria’s international friendly against Jordan on Tuesday, as they have both left the Super Eagles’ camp for personal reasons.
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Sports247 gathered that Onyemaechi, whose 27th birthday is this Friday, left the Super Eagles’ hotel camp in Antalya, Turkey early on Monday to be with his wife who has been delivered of a baby, while Ajayi also has to attend to some personal issues.
This means both defenders will not be present at Corendon Airlines Park on Tuesday night when the Eagles line out for their second and last match of the ongoing four-nation invitational competition being organised by Jordan Football Association (JFA).
A media statement from the communications department of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) revealed that Eagles’ coach, Eric Sekou Chelle has already started making plans to adjust his backline for Tuesday’s decisive game versus the ‘hosts,’ who need an outright win in order to clinch the trophy.
While victory would ensure Chelle wins a second invitational trophy for Nigeria, after clinching the 2025 Unity Cup last May in London, the Franco-Malian gaffer has to quickly rejig his back-four before kick off in order to stop the goal-hungry Jordanians.
This means Chelle will turn to either Chibuike Nwaiwu or Emmanuel Fernández to pair Igoh Ogbu in central defence, while Zaidu Sanusi fits in at left-back and Bright Osayi-Samuel will maintain his spot on the right side of the back-four for Tuesday’s game (starting 6:30pm Nigeria time).
However, considering his remarkable form at club level with Trabzonspor of Turkey and the confident manner he stepped in as a substitute in the Eagles’ 2-1 win over Iran on Friday, most odds are in favour of Nwaiwu to get the nod ahead of Fermandez in Chelle’s starting 11.
The NFF’s media statement added, “Chelle is looking ahead to win with the 21 players available to take on the emerging Asian power. The Franco-Malian and his assistants again drilled the players in a training session on Monday evening.
“World Cup-bound Jordan are no longer the paperweights they used to be considered as and, despite sitting at 64th in the current FIFA ranking, have lost only one of their last five matches and drew 2-2 with Costa Rica in a pulsating encounter on Friday.
“Chelle must find a new partner for Czech-based central defender Igoh Ogbu, while Portugal-based Zaidu Sanusi is likely to take the place of Onyemaechi. Bright Osayi-Samuel will remain at right back.”
