Coach Anthony Adedeji Adeyemi has given his verdict over exclusion of Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Iheanacho from the Super Eagles 23 Man ahead of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in March, Sports247 reports.
Super Eagles Eric Sekou Chelle released his final 23 Man lists ahead of the two World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe on Tuesday afternoon.
Team captain Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Iheanacho were among the 16 players dropped from the initial 39 provisional list earlier released by the coach .
In a reaction shortly after the final twenty three man lists was released by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, coach Adedeji said the exclusion of the two experienced players means the coach has opted for players with flexibility on the ball and aggressiveness without the ball ahead of just being experience in the game.
He said these two qualities are presently missing in the game of Musa due to age while Iheanacho may be flexible and offer more technically with the ball but the aggressiveness to to fight for the second ball or when he is not with the ball is not there due to lack of fitness and playing time of recent.
” The list is a good one. The coach has gone with players with flexibility with the ball and aggression without the ball, to chase the ball or fight for the second ball or the opponent”.
Musa doesn’t have this flexibility while Iheanacho have this flexibility but the energy is not there, I think lack of these qualities is a disadvantage for both of them and it worked against their inclusion in the team”, said coach Adeyemi.
The Switzerland based coach spoke further on what might have necessitated the exclusion of these two players from the final list against Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
” For Super Eagles coach, Eric Sekou Chelle to have to gone to watch Ahmed Musa, I think he has been fair to him.”
” May be the energy is not enough for him to play the kind of football he loves to play, I know Eric Sekou Chelle love to play high tempo and energy based football.”
“Probably Musa’s energy is enough to fit into the coach style of football.”
” As for Iheanacho, his technical input may be okay but his fitness level is a suspect,he has added some weight.
” In modern day, many coaches believe in strength, pace, tactical discipline and once all these are missing they won’t give you chance in their team”, coach Adeyemi posited.
He gave a thumbs up to the final twenty three selected by the coach and described it as a balance squad which is good enough for the Super Eagles to have a good outing in the two crucial world cup matches.
The Super Eagles are in a must win situation in the two matches for them to keep their hope of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup alive.
The team has just three points in four matches having drawn three and lose one out of the four matches played so far in the series.
This has left the Super Eagles in a precarious position in the group.
The demand now is that the team may need to win the remaining six matches in the group which has Zimbabwe, Rwanda, South Africa, Lesotho and Benin Republic for them to qualify as the winner of the group and pick one of the nine guaranteed tickets available for Africa at the 2026 World Cup due to take place in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
