Jose Peseiro explains Gift Orban, Victor Boniface, Chuba Akpom’s omissions for Sierra Leone clash

Nigeria’s head coach Jose Peseiro has revealed the reason why he dropped the trio of Chuba Akpom, Victor Boniface and Gift Orban from his roster for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Sierra Leone this week.

The trio have been outstanding for their clubs, notching several goals, Akpom scoring 28 goals in the English Championship for Middlesbrough, while the duo of Orban and Boniface scored 20 and 22 goals respectively.

However, they are notable omission as the 63-year-old Portuguese manager recently listed his roster to face Sierra Leone on the 18th of June for their match-day five encounters of the AFCON qualifiers.

While acknowledging the potential of Orban and Boniface, Peseiro revealed that limited resources compelled him to call up only nineteen foreign-based players for the crucial encounter against Sierra Leone.

In a chat with journalists after the team’s first training session at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos on Monday, Peseiro insisted that the duo are still in his plans despite their omission.

He also took out time to explain the invitation of captain of the team Ahmed Musa who hasn’t seen lot of action for Turkish side Sivasspor.

According to Peseiro, Musa is a winger while the aforementioned duo are strikers. He said including them ahead of Musa will mean taking five strikers to Monrovia for the game against Sierra Leone

“I was in England, I was in Spain, I was in Italy. I visited them from my pocket. For that I will like to call them but if I call them, I will have to drop some of these players like you know I can only call 19 foreign based players.

“I believe in the local players but our federation (NFF) is not in a good financial situation for that, so because of that I can only call 19 players from outside Nigeria.

“If I have the space to call more players, Orban, Boniface or more players I can call but I understand the situation and our NFF say I can only call 19 players.

“I believe in them. They must still work well in their clubs. They have an opportunity to play for the national team because they are quality players. I cannot choose five strikers.”

The Super Eagles stars need at least a draw against Sierra Leone to guarantee their ticket to feature in the AFCON tournament slated to hold in Côte d’Ivoire.