Eguavoen Keeps Sealed Lips On Starting 11 To Battle Sudan On Saturday

Super Eagles’ interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen is keeping sealed lips on the starting 11 that will line out against Sudan in his side’s second match at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, megasportsarena.com reports.

While many observers would expect him to maintain the ‘winning team’ that silenced Egypt 1-0 at same venue on Tuesday, ‘Egu’ hinted that he will not name his first 11 until few hours to kick off.

With that approach high on his mind, the Eagles’ former defender, captain and head coach declared that he will not put a finger on any particular player that is assured of a place on the pitch from the referee’s first blast of the whistle.

That line of thought has also informed his act of jostling his training programme, as he does not have a strict routing for possibles and probables in the build-up to any match.

Observations ahead of Sunday’s game versus Sudan further revealed that ‘Cerezo’ has again alternated his squad by crisscrossing the lads between the probables to possible and back during each training session leading up to the match.

Same he did for the opening group clash with Egypt, as Samuel Chukwueze and Moses Simon all along trained with the outsiders, only for both to make the starting line-up and for Saturday’s battle against Sudan, the Eagles’ first-choice goalkeeper, Emil Maduka Okoye was grouped in the penultimate workout with players not guaranteed starting spots.

Although Ola Aina, William Troost-Ekong, Kenneth Omeruo and Zaidu Sanusi look good to keep their spots in defence on Saturday, with Joe Aribo and Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi bound to stay on in midfield, as well as Moses Simon, Taiwo Awoniyi and Kelechi Iheanacho upfront, ’Egu’ refused to make any confirmation, especially with regards to Samuel Chukwueze’s dull show on Tuesday.

Eguavoen retorted that he is not in a hurry to name his starting 11, but pointed out a couple of factors that he would take into account, saying: “That’s a little bit hard to say. We hope that everybody stays healthy and fit and then we will see the lineup.”