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Nigeria Football Federation Names New Players for Super Eagles Squad
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced the inclusion of two new players, Gabriel Osho and Benjamin Tianimu, in the Super Eagles squad for their upcoming friendly matches in March.
This will mark the first time that both players will be joining the national team. The friendly matches are scheduled against Ghana’s Black Stars and Mali’s Les Aigles in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
The NFF’s FIFA Match Agent, Jairo Pachon of Eurodata Sport, has organized these matches. The clash with Ghana’s Black Stars on March 22 will reignite the age-old rivalry between the two West African giants.
This rivalry dates back to 1951 when Nigeria defeated Gold Coast 5-0 in a Jalco Cup encounter in Lagos.
The most recent meeting between the two teams was in March 2022 during a FIFA World Cup play-off, with the Black Stars prevailing on the away-goal rule after a 1-1 aggregate.
Nigeria and Mali, both known as the Eagles, last faced each other in a goalless friendly match in Rouen, France, in 2016.
Prior to that, the Malian Eagles suffered a 1-4 defeat to the Super Eagles in the semi-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Nigeria-Ghana match will take place at the Grand Stade de Marrakech on March 22 at 4 p.m. Morocco time, while the Nigeria-Mali match will kick off at the same venue on March 26 at 9 p.m.
NFF has retained the core of the squad that finished as runners-up at the 34th Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.