Another angle has cropped up in reports about the expected invitations of some home-based players to the next Super Eagles’ camp, as feelers indicate that those to be invited from clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) will only star against Uganda in a friendly.
Footballllive.ng gathered on authority that, though a handful of home-based players will be invited to the Eagles’ camp for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa, the real target is to take pressure off the foreign-based players for the friendly three days later.
A credible source affirmed that, instead of having to rush home-based lads into the team as back-up for any of the overseas-based players that might opt out of the friendly and head back to their clubs, the NFF have impressed on Eagles gaffer, Gernot Rohr to invite them in one swoop.
It was gathered further that this would rule out complexities that erupted when the NFF had to hurriedly invite three players to join the Eagles’ for their last friendly away to Liberia, after several of the stars flew back to base after a 3-0 win away to Seychelles in the AFCON 2019 qualifiers.
The source explained: “Some home-based players will be included in the next Super Eagles’ list, but they will not play the match against South Africa, which is a crucial, must-win game for the team.
“The home-based players will, however, get their chances in the international friendly against Uganda, which is three days after the qualifier in Johannesburg.
“That friendly is not a crucial match, meaning some of the key players might not be keen on featuring in that game, so that would leave room open for the home-based players to step in.”
