Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia on Tuesday made public his team list for the national team’s August 9 friendly match against Ghana’s Black Stars.
The game which comes up at London’s Vicarage Road, home ground of English Championship outfit Watford, will serve as a preparatory game for the Super Eagles ahead of September’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Madagascar in Antananarivo.
And with no other preparatory game lined up before the crucial game against the Madagascans, Siasia has called on his top repertoire of Europe-based players for the game against the Black Stars including a recall for Osaze Odemwingie.
Odemwingie had previously been left out of the Super Eagles side by Siasia after the West Bromwich Albion forward left the team’s camp without permission at the end of last March’s qualifying match against Ethiopia in Abuja.
As a result, the 30-year-old was left out of the national team’s friendly games against Kenya and Argentina, as well as the reverse fixture against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa where the Super Eagles escaped with a fortuitous 2-2 draw to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for next year’s Cup of Nations to be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Both Siasia and Odemwingie have since resolved their differences and the latter will be looking to lead the Super Eagles to victory over a Ghanaian side that has in recent times gotten the better of the Nigerians.
Also making a return to the Super Eagles after a long absence is Elderson Echiejile who will battle for the left-back position alongside AC Milan’s Taye Taiwo.
Siasia also handed a call-up to former Enyimba star Emmanuel Ekpo who now plays for United States Major League Soccer outfit Columbus Crew, as well as Solomon Okoronkwo, who like Ekpo, was in the Nigerian side that finished with a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Siasia was the coach of that Nigerian Olympic team, and a total of eight players from that side are in the squad for the game against the Ghanaians.
THE FULL LIST:
VINCENT ENYEAMA - FC LILLE LOSC (FRANCE)
BAMIDELE AIYENUGBA - BNEI YEHUDA FC (ISRAEL)
CHIGOZIE AGBIM - WARRI WOLVES FC (NIGERIA)
CHIBUZOR OKONKWO - HEARTLAND FC (NIGERIA)
TAYE TAIWO - AC MILAN (ITALY)
GEGE SORIOLA - HEARTLAND FC (NIGERIA)
ELDERSON ECHIEJILE - SPORTING BRAGA (PORTUGAL)
JOSEPH YOBO - EVERTON (ENGLAND)
YUSUF AYILA - DYNAMO KYIV (UKRAINE)
EFE AMBROSE - ASHDOD MS (ISRAEL)
MIKEL OBI - CHELSEA FC (ENGLAND)
FEGOR OGUDE - VALERENGA FC (NORWAY)
JOEL OBI - INTER MILAN (ITALY)
KALU UCHE - ALMERIA FC (SPAIN)
EMMANUEL EKPO - COLUMBUS CREW (USA)
SOLOMON OKORONKWO - VALERENGA FC (NORWAY)
OBINNA NSOFOR - LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW (RUSSIA0
VICTOR ANICHEBE - EVERTON FC (ENGLAND)
IKECHUKWU UCHE - ZARAGOZA FC (SPAIN)
OSAZE ODEMWINGIE -WEST BROMWICH ALBION (ENGLAND)
EKIGHO EHIOSUN - SAMSUNSPOR (TURKEY)
EMMANUEL EMENIKE - FENERBAHCE FC (TURKEY)
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