At least three more members of Nigeria’s senior national team; the Super Eagles have withdrawn from this weekend’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification game against Seychelles.
Italy based defenders Ola Aina and William Troost-Ekong have been ruled out due to injuries while England based Alex Iwobi has withdrawn due to illness, officials say.
Aina who has featured in every league game since joining his new side Torino was substituted in the 87th minute of their 1-0 win over SPAL on Sunday due to a suspected injury while Ekong although lasted for the entire duration has withdrawn due to an undisclosed injury.
“The scans to which Ola Aina was subjected to showed a small muscular problem to the biceps femoris of the left thigh which prevented the player from ending the match last night against Spal,” began Torino on their official website.
“Because of this, Nigeria, immediately informed by the medical staff, have renounced the call of the full-back who was supposed to participate in the game against the Seychelles scheduled for 8 September,” the Torino statement added.
Arsenal star Alex Iwobi missed the North London side’s Premier League win at Cardiff City on Sunday due to an illness which will now keep him out of the Seychelles game – Nigeria’s second group game in the qualification series.
Just In: Iwobi, Aina and Ekong are out of Seychelles game due to injuries. Only Henry Onyekuru is in camp at the moment, we expect others early tomorrow.
—Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) September 3, 2018
Only Turkey based forward Henry Onyekuru was at the team’s camp as at Monday evening with the remaining invited players expected on Tuesday morning. The team’s coaches and other members of back room staff arrived in Seychelles on Monday from Nigeria.
Nigeria’s game against Seychelles will hold in Victoria on Saturday, starting from 1:30pm West African Time. The Super Eagles lost their first group game against South Africa in Uyo in June, 2017.
