Galatasaray of Turkey striker, Victor James Osimhen should not be included in the Super Eagles’ squad for the upcoming four-nation invitational competition in London, tagged 2025 Unity Cup.
Sports247 reports that this shocking verdict was passed by a former youth international, Henry Isaac, who wants a new striker to be tested during the forthcoming competition, where the Eagles will start with a match against Ghana on May 28th.
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Isaac, who is related to former Super Eagles’ captain, Nwankwo Kanu, but used to be known as Henry Nwosu during his days in the Golden Eaglets’ squad that won rhe CAF/Meridian Cup of 1997 in Portugal, added that new players should be called up to prosecute the upcoming competition at Brentford FC’s GTech Stadium.
He also made a case for Bayer Leverkusen of Germany hitman, Victor Boniface and Taiwo Awoniyi from Nottingham Forest in England to get more opportunities to prove themselves as capable backups that can be counted on should Osimhen not be available for selection or dips in form.
The former Eintracht Frankfurt and Sankt Pauli of Germany attacker opined boldly, “In the Super Eagles now, upfront, it’s only Osimhen that Nigeria has. So, if Osimhen does not perform well or gives just 75%, then nothing will happen upfront.
“The likes of Victor Boniface should be tried more often. Other strikers should also get the chance in this tournament to play the whole matches. Let’s back the team up with strikers like Taiwo Awoniyi and others who have not had the chance to play.”
The lanky former attacker, who also played for Sliema Wanderers and Vittoriosa of Malta, where he hung his boots in 2012, went on to advocate a full-scale exclusion of all regulars from the invitational competition, which will also feature Jamaica versus Trinidad and Tobago in the first match on May 27th, with winners of both games clashing in the final on May 31st.
Rather than look forward to seeing all of the Super Eagles’ star players feature at the competition in London, Isaac suggested it should be used to experiment an alternate squad for Nigeria’s senior national team.
He added, “Let’s even try new players that we might discover before then. We can use this competition to try them. Nigeria has so many players. So many strikers, so many defenders; and I believe we can see them better in this tournament.
“Leave out the ones that are in the first eleven and just bring new faces. From that point, you can see what to do next and how to adjust the team. We can see those who you can put in the main team for the next match.”
He concluded by stressing that the Unity Cup should be used as an avenue to experiment and help Nigeria develop greenhorns who would eventually take over from the likes of Osimhen in the current squad, which is ironically still battling to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
“I think this tournament is a very good opportunity to expose other players and build another team on the side … just in case. On the other hand, as it is, if anything happens to Osimhen now, Nigeria is finished,” concluded Isaac, who is now 45 years old.
