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Morocco 2025: Osimhen, Ekong, Ndidi, others to battle Benin Republic, Rwanda

Morocco 2025: Ekong, Lookman, Simon, 19 others train in Abidjan Tuesday night

Prince Odutola05 mins

Only Spain-based forward Sadiq Umar was being expected as Nigeria’s juggernaut rolled sturdily into the much-familiar environment of Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny on Tuesday, with 22 players set for the team’s first training session ahead of a potentially-explosive Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against neighbours Benin Republic on Thursday. “We have 22 players, with only one person to join the team in the early hours of Wednesday. It has been a particularly great atmosphere here in Abidjan, and we are all very positive going into the first training session ahead of the match,” Coach Augustine Eguavoen told thenff.com on Tuesday. Eleven players, viz Captain and AFCON Man of the Competition William Ekong, reigning Africa Player of the Year Victor Osimhen, his likely successor Ademola Lookman, defenders Bright Osayi-Samuel, Olaoluwa Aina, Victor Collins and Calvin Bassey, midfielders Alex Iwobi and Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi, and Germany-based forward Victor Boniface all arrived at once on Tuesday morning, before being joined by South Africa-based goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. Earlier, goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and forward Kelechi Iheanacho had arrived, to join the eight that were in camp on Monday: goalkeeper Amas Obasogie, defenders Gabriel Osho and Bruno Onyemaechi, midfielders Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Frank Onyeka and Raphael Onyedika, and forwards Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze. With 10 points from four matches, seven goals for and none against, and top of their Group D, the Eagles will walk with an extra bounce into the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the facility where they upended the aspirations of Guinea Bissau, Cameroon and Angola at the 34th Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cote d’Ivoire earlier in the year. It was also the venue where in the summer, they were slated by two goals to one by the Cheetahs (who have been forced by lack of a CAF-approved facility in their country to adopt Abidjan as home) in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying game in which they scored first. “The stadium is a familiar one for us and we have good memories from the AFCON. We will rather focus on the positive results we have taken away from here and work hard for another good day in the office on Thursday. “It is not going to be easy because the Beninoise are also chasing a ticket to the final tournament. However, our objective is clear: three points on the night,” Captain Ekong said on Tuesday. Senegalese official Issa Sy, who was in charge when the Super Eagles pipped Angola 1-0 at the same venue, in a quarter-final match of the Africa Cup of Nations finals, has been selected by CAF as referee for Thursday’s encounter, which will commence at 7pm CIV time (8pm Nigeria time). He will be supported by compatriots Djibril Camara (assistant 1), Nouha Bangoura (assistant 2) and El Hadji Amadou Sy (fourth official). Ivorian Rene Williams Sere will be the commissioner while Angolan Inacio Manuel Candido will be the referee assessor. The Super Eagles need only one point from Thursday’s clash to be sure of a ticket to the 35th AFCON, scheduled for Morocco 21st December 2025 – 18th January 2026.          

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Europa League: Osimhen fires brace in Galatasaray five-goal thriller

Prince Odutola05 mins

Victor Osimhen scored twice to inflict a first Europa League defeat on 10-player Tottenham and earn a 3-2 victory for wasteful Galatasaray. Spurs conceded 28 shots and had just five of their own yet escaped from Istanbul with a respectable scoreline despite having Will Lankshear sent off in the second half. Galatasaray stormed into a sixth-minute lead when Yunus Akgun’s stunning volley from the edge of the box crashed into the top-right corner but Spurs responded through 19-year-old striker Lankshear, who tapped in his first goal for the club after Brennan Johnson had squared a cross. Tottenham’s Will Lankshear, second from left, celebrates with his team-mates after scoring his side’s opening goal against Galatasaray However, the visitors were vulnerable at the back throughout with Osimhen forcing a good save from Forster and then having a goal ruled out for offside before restoring his side’s lead with a clever toe-poke after Radu Dragusin gave the ball away. Forster saved again from Osimhen but just 60 seconds later the striker netted his second of the first half with a cushioned volley from Dries Mertens’ perfect cross. Ange Postecoglou brought on Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur for Brennan Johnson and Heung-Min Son at half-time – but Spurs got worse. Abdulkerim Bardakci had a goalbound shot blocked after Forster dropped an easy cross before Akgun’s volley was deflected inches wide and Osimhen missed two chances. Lankshear then picked up his second yellow card, just seven minutes after his first, for a silly tackle on the halfway line and then Forster made two more saves. Solanke, though, cleverly flicked Pedro Porro’s low pullback into the net against the run of play to put Spurs within one goal and Kulusevski could have equalised in injury-time when his long-range shot rolled wide with goalkeeper Fernando Muslera way out of his goal. Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said: “I just felt it was self-inflicted. We had really simple solutions out there to keep the ball. It wasn’t that hard. We showed it with 10 men. We just needed to be stronger on the ball and play the kind of football we play every week. “Maybe it was a little bit the changes I made and the environment and atmosphere, but the moments that stick out to me was giving the ball away. We were playing through them quite easily with 10 men but with 11 men we had nowhere near that conviction and that was disappointing.” On Will Lankshear: “Will took his goal well, he worked hard for the team. He hasn’t had a lot of experience at senior football so he would have learnt a lot today. The red card, it was a bit of overenthusiasm in that moment to give away a foul, but he’ll learn from that.” Galatasaray have won three of their opening four games in a major European campaign for the first time since 2009-10, also in the Europa League. Tottenham faced 28 shots in their loss to Galatasaray, their most in a game under manager Ange Postecoglou; it is the most efforts faced by an English team in a Europa League group stage match since Everton faced 39 shots against Wolfsburg in November 2014.

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Morocco 2025: Ekong, Lookman, Osimhen, Simon, 19 others gear up for Benin, Rwanda 

Prince Odutola04 mins

Captain William Ekong, Atalanta of Italy’s Ademola Lookman, effervescent winger Moses Simon, reigning Africa Player of the Year Victor Osimhen and 19 other players will seek for six points against Benin Republic and Rwanda in the closing rounds of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign this month.  Coach Augustine Eguavoen has also called goalkeepers Stanley Nwabali and Maduka Okoye, defenders Calvin Bassey and Bright Osayi-Samuel, as well as midfielders Frank Onyeka, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi, and forwards Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Boniface and Samuel Chukwueze.  Home-based defender Victor Collins will join up with the group for the first time, and there is a return for gangling forward Sadiq Umar, who plays for Real Sociedad in Spain.   Defenders Olaoluwa Aina and Bruno Onyemaechi are also listed, while France-based defender Gabriel Osho will hope to play his first competitive game for fatherland, after his inability to honour a first call-up in the summer due to injury. The Super Eagles will fly directly to Abidjan on 11 November, for the confrontation with the Cheetahs of Benin Republic at the Stade Felix-Houphouet-Boigny on Thursday, 14th November, before traveling down to Uyo for the final qualifying game against the Amavubi of Rwanda at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium on Monday, 18thNovember.  Currently top of their Group D, the Super Eagles will be certain of a place in the final tournament if they get a point against the Cheetahs, which will take then to 11 points, and with only final-day opponents Rwanda capable of catching up with them on points. However, with a current tally of seven goals for and none against (following the CAF Disciplinary Board’s award of three points and three goals for the botched Matchday 4 encounter against Libya), the Super Eagles stand head and shoulders above the Amavubi, who have one-goal deficit and five points in their favour going into the final two matchdays.  Goalkeepers: Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United, South Africa); Maduka Okoye (Udinese FC, Italy); Amas Obasogie (Fasil Kenema SC, Ethiopia) Defenders: William Ekong (Al-Kholood FC, Saudi Arabia); Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce SK, Turkey); Bruno Onyemaechi (Boavista FC, Portugal); Gabriel Osho (AJ Auxerre, France); Calvin Bassey (Fulham FC, England); Olaoluwa Aina (Nottingham Forest, England); Victor Collins (Nasarawa United) Midfielders: Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge, Belgium); Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi (New England Revolution, USA); Fisayo Dele-Bashiru (Lazio FC. Italy); Frank Onyeka (Augsburg FC, Germany); Alex Iwobi (Fulham FC, England) Forwards: Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan, Italy); Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Ademola Lookman (Atalanta FC, Italy); Kelechi Iheanacho (Sevilla FC, Spain); Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Sadiq Umar (Real Sociedad, Spain)  

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