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 *Arrival of Osayi-Samuel, Iheanacho and Ejuke complete 23-man list

Femi Solaja

Interim Head Coach of Super Eagles, Augustine Eguavoen,  has set as objective, the maximum six points from this month’s double header between Nigeria  and Libya’s Mediterranean Knights in the teams’ Group D attrition as the race to next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals hots up.

Nigeria will host the first game at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Friday evening, with the return fixture at the Martyrs of Benina Stadium in Benina, 19 kilometres from Libya’s second city Benghazi, on Tuesday night.

“We have to be practical about it: our best and surest route to the finals will be to pick up the six points in the matches with Libya, and be somewhat guaranteed of a place in Morocco even before Matchday 5. We don’t want to be in any anxiety in the run-in in this qualifying campaign.

Eguavoen admitted that he was going to miss the absence of Napoli Loanee at Galatasaray, injured Victor Osimhen.

“I admit we will miss Victor (Osimhen), but I believe in the other strikers available to get us the goals that will give us the three points in Uyo, and the three points in Libya,” Eguavoen assured Nigerian football fans.

Twenty of the 23 invited players trained in Uyo on Tuesday evening, with defender Bright Osayi-Samuel and forwards Kelechi Iheanacho and Chidera Ejuke arriving camp yesterday morning.

Leaders Nigeria have four points from their two matches so far, one point ahead of Benin Republic and two ahead of Rwanda. The Eagles will go to 10 points with a double win over Libya, while both teams on Nigeria’s heels are in attrition and are bound to chop at each other’s advantage one way or the other.

Wins for Benin Republic in both matches will take them to nine points, still short of Nigeria’s probable tally of 10, but Rwanda will remain stuck at two and Libya one, with only two matches left in the campaign. Wins for Rwanda will leave Benin Republic stuck at three points and Rwanda at eight.