National Teams
AFCON 2023: NFF President Gusau expresses confidence in Alhassan Yusuf inclusion
By Monsurah Olatunji
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau, is optimistic Nigeria will do well without Wilfred Ndidi at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The three-time champions will kick off its campaign against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, January 14 at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, followed by a showdown against the hosts at the same venue four days later, and conclude its group stage campaign with a match against Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday, January 22.
Jose Peseiro has already released his final 25-man squad for the AFCON tournament but had to do some adjusting after it was confirmed that the Leicester City star sustained an injury.
In the absence of Ndidi, the Portuguese tactician has called Royal Antwerp player Alhassan Yusuf to replace the injured Ndidi.
Gusau expressed confidence in Yusuf’s potential contributions to the AFCON campaign, citing his impressive performance against Barcelona as a positive indicator, stressing that there is no fear about Ndidi’s absence from the squad, emphasizing the team’s ability to perform well even without the midfielder.
“I don’t have any tension because I know we played a lot of matches without Ndidi and we won a lot of matches without Ndidi,” the president speaking in an interview on TotoriNews’s YouTube channel.
“We played a lot of matches with Ndidi and lost unexpectedly so it’s not about Ndidi, it’s about the national team of Nigeria.
“The young boy that was brought in now, Yusuf is also doing wonderfully well with his team. When they played against Barcelona, you can see the performance he put on in the win against Barcelona in the Champions League.
“He’s also a young boy, maybe it’s an opportunity for him to do a miracle. Don’t forget everybody did not have confidence in Mba when we went to the AFCON in 2013 and at the end of the day, Mba was part of the players that performed a miracle.
“Nobody knows what Yusuf is going to be in the team so it’s not about Ndidi, it’s about the Super Eagles.”
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