Augustine Eguavoen will once again be in the dugout as interim head coach when the Super Eagles take on Libya in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on October 11 and 15.
The former Nigeria international did not do too badly in his fourth stint in the dugout with a 3-0 win over Benin and a goalless draw against Rwanda last month.
The games against Libya are very crucial as victories over the two legs in Uyo and Benina would seal their place in next year’s finals in Morocco with two qualifying matches left to play.
🇳🇬 Nigeria 🆚 Libya 🇱🇾
Friday 11th October, 2024
5:00PM WAT🚨 LIVE ON AFROSPORT TV
👉🏾 https://t.co/8cAZWyB3qg 👈🏽
AFCON 2025 Qualifiers pic.twitter.com/rIGRl9CbAo
— AfroSport (@AfroSportTV) October 4, 2024
This means the Super Eagles must put in a very solid performance against the Mediterranean Knights to make the job easier. In that regard, Eguavoen has already named his 23-man squad list for the fixture with the most notable absentees being talisman Victor Osimhen and Orlando Pirates centre-back Olisa Ndah due to injury while Chidera Ejuke returns after a two-year absence.
The squad still looks solid on paper and is capable of hurting the Libyans, especially with the options in attack that includes Victor Boniface, Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon, Taiwo Awoniyi and 2024 Ballon d’Or nominee Ademola Lookman.
These are names that can walk into any of the biggest clubs in the world and that is something to be proud of that Nigeria is able to produce such an array of talent.
23 for Libya #AFCON2025Q #SoarSuperEagles pic.twitter.com/mAgjcLokNh
— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) October 5, 2024
A major problem is that these are not the only attacking players available for selection. They might be the best picks for Eguavoen and his technical crew but it does not negate a host of other Nigerian attackers who are out there but did not make the squad list.
Some of them include Tolu Arokodare, Cyriel Dessers, Victor Olatunji, Josh Maja, Gift Orban, and Akor Adams.
Arokodare for starters is one of the hottest players in the Belgian Pro League at the moment with six goals which puts him as the joint-top scorer. Dessers meanwhile was invited during the March international window and scored in the 2-1 friendly win over Ghana. Before then, however, his last cap was a five-minute cameo in a 2-1 friendly loss to Algeria in September 2022.
AFCON 2025 Qualifiers: Why Arokodare, Maja & Sodiq should get Super Eagles call-ups.#AfrosportNow #AFCON2025Qualifiers #SuperEagleshttps://t.co/bEfNiSnMHX
— AfroSport (@AfroSportTV) September 30, 2024
Within that time, Dessers played for Cremonese and Rangers FC, shining with the latter where he currently is and has found the back of the net seven times this season, not forgetting the 22 competitive goals he scored during the 2023-24 campaign.
Olatunji is another making headlines with Sparta Prague after scoring and assisting in a 4-0 win over RB Salzburg on his UEFA Champions League debut, becoming the first-ever Nigerian to do that.
Maja has only one cap for Nigeria which was a one-minute cameo in a friendly against Ukraine five years ago but he is a reborn player now and is the current top scorer in the Championship with seven goals.
Other Nigerians doing well at the moment also include Gift Orban and Akor Adams in the French Ligue 1 with Olympique Lyon and Montpellier respectively.
The latter was once tipped to make his Super Eagles bow after showing blistering form with Gent in Belgium.
The 22-year-old has however not gotten a call-up till this day, with the ineffectual Paul Onuachu getting the nod ahead of him on occasion.
YET ANOTHER NIGHT IN GOD GLORY pic.twitter.com/wZZicWjVAv
— Olatunji Victor (@OV19OFFICIAL) September 21, 2024
This is not forgetting previously capped players like Emmanuel Dennis, Onuachu, David Okereke, Simy Nwankwo, Peter Olayinka, and Umar Sadiq among others who might not be in great form at the moment but are still at the peak of their careers and are putting in decent shifts for their club sides.
With all these players mentioned, it is safe to say that Nigeria has the largest pool of attacking talent of any African team and arguably in the world as not many sides can boast of such names playing at the very highest level of the game.
It is a blessing that any Nigerian manager has so many attacking options to pick from. Having a headache is something other national teams would wish they have if not for the lack of depth in talent.
It is however turning into something of a curse in that while the Super Eagles can boast of lethal attacking options, the same cannot be said of other departments.
The midfield for a very long time has been very thin with Wilfred Ndidi, Frank Onyeka, Raphael Onyedika and Alex Iwobi constantly receiving call-ups even when they were not at their best at club level.
In defence, the options at full-back are very thin as well with former coach Finidi George needing to call on NPFL stars Sodiq Ismail and Kenneth Igboke as stand-ins during June’s World Cup qualifiers after the regular faces in Ola Aina and Osimhen were injured.
Even in central defence, Semi Ajayi, Chidozie Awaziem and 2013 AFCON champion Kenneth Omeruo have regularly been selected with very little competition for their spots.
This goes to show that not enough is being done to develop midfielders and defenders back home and for those who are raised overseas, they are not enough either.
This leaves the Super Eagles at a very big disadvantage because it signals that the team is not balanced and they risk being overrun by teams that are more complete in all departments even if there are not so many options.
This was clearly on display during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast where Nigeria were not able to match the tournament hosts in the middle of the park and were ultimately beaten in the final.
Fans can celebrate attackers delivering for their club sides week in and week out and expect them to replicate it for the national team.
However, if there are not enough players in other departments doing the same thing, it might continue to pose a stumbling block towards getting the country where it should be among Africa’s best, and that is not something passionate fans want to deal with in the long run.
