Freshly invited Super Eagles player Ademola Lookman is expected to arrive the Nigerian team’s camp tomorrow in Abuja ahead of the first leg FIFA world cup playoff against Ghana’s Black Stars in Kumasi.
18 players are already in the camp which opened yesterday, with 8 more, including Lookman, expected in the coming days.
There were fears over the availability of the Leicester City winger for the Ghana games after he missed his club’s Premier League encounter at the weekend due to illness.
The 24 year old English born Lookman who has 4 goals in 19 appearances for Leicester this term is expected to shore up Eagles attack against Ghana if he makes the cut.
Another Leicester player Wilfred Ndidi had already been replaced by Lorient’s Innocent Bonke, after the Foxes midfielder suffered a knee injury last week.
Striker Kelechi Iheanacho, defenders Leon Balogun, Semi Ajayi, Shehu Abdullahi and Ola Aina, midfielder Frank Onyeka and goalkeepers Francis Uzoho and Daniel Akpeyi arrived yesterday.
Others are captain Ahmed Musa, Saudi Arabia-based striker Odion Ighalo and Watford trio William Troost-Ekong, and Oghenekaro Etebo.
Eagles interim coach Austin Eguavoen had released a provisional list of 32 players, with 25 on the main list, while seven more were placed on standby.
The 25-man main list is expected to be pruned to 23 before the qualifiers.
Nigeria take on Ghana in the 20,000 –capacity Cape Coast Sports Stadium as from 7.30pm on Friday 25th March, with the reverse leg set for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday, 29th March as from 6pm.
The winner over two legs will earn one of Africa’s five tickets to the 22nd FIFA World Cup finals, scheduled for 14th November – 18th December this year in Qatar.
