Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s Super Eagles officially began their pre-tournament camping ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire on Tuesday, January 2 in Abu Dhabi with the coaching crew of the team lead by Jose Peseiro and four players already in the team’s camp.
The four players who flew to the camping base in the beautiful city of Abu Dhabi include Alex Iwobi (Fulham), Ola Aina (Nottingham Forest), Ademola Lookman (Atalanta) and Joe Aribo (Southampton).
Prime Business Africa gathers that Ahmed Musa, Moses Simon, Olorunleke Ojo and Kenneth Omeruo will join from Abuja on Wednesday while Calvin Bassey is expected from London on Wednesday morning.
Samuel Chukwueze has been given a permission to join from Italy on Wednesday too after featuring for AC Milan on Tuesday night in their 4-1 win against Cagliari in the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia.
Worryingly, the duo of Leicester City stars, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi are reportedly nursing ‘minor injuries’ and would be accessed by the Super Eagles’ medics.
Alhasan Yusuf and Terem Moffi have been placed on standby to replace them if it is ascertained that they cannot sufficiently recover on time for the tournament.
The deadline for the submission of team lists as mandated by CAF by all 24 participating countries is on Tuesday, January 3.
The team will spend the next nine days in camp and will play two tuneup games against Cape Verde and Burkina Faso before departing for Abidjan on January 10.
The team was initially planned to have their Africa Cup of Nations preparations with a third friendly against the Congo DR side but the Eastern African team pulled out of the game.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles will share the same hotel in Abidjan when the tournament begins with the Black Stars of Ghana.
The organisers confirmed that both Super Eagles and Black Stars will stay at the Five-Star Pullman Hotel in Abidjan.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has started allocating facilities with less than two weeks to the kick off.
Nigeria’s Group A matches will be played at the Alasanne Quatara Stadium in Ebimpe while Ghana campaigning in the Group D will face Mozambique, Egypt and Mozambique.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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