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| Nwabali |
Super Eagles fans can breathe easy, star goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali is fully cleared to face hosts Morocco in tonight’s Africa Cup of Nations semifinal clash.
The high-stakes showdown kicks off at 8:00 p.m. at Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat. Online rumors had swirled since Monday, claiming Nwabali’s two yellow cards from earlier matches would sideline him. But the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) swiftly debunked the scare.
Super Eagles Media Officer Promise Efoghe confirmed, in a Guardian newspaper report that “Nwabali has just one yellow from the knockout stage. Group phase cards don’t carry over, he’s 100% ready to guard Nigeria’s goal and chase glory tonight.”
However, team captain, Wilfred Ndidi, is suspended for today’s game because of the two yellow cards that he received in the knockout phase of the competition.
Ndidi’s place will be taken by Club Brugge’s midfielder, Raphael Onyedika. Looking forward to another successful game today, the NFF, yesterday, dismissed fears of possible biased officiating when the Super Eagles lock horns with hosts Atlas Lions of Morocco, the Guardian newspaper also reports.
The NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau, said: “I do not have the same fears of the match officials being biased as some people have. I believe that the grass is always green and that the playing pitch is level. I do not see a situation in which the match officials will be working against any team’s interest.
“Last summer, we were here in Morocco, for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, and we played the host nation in the Final, even coming from two goals behind to achieve victory. There is nothing to fear. This is the highest level of football on the African continent, and the officials know that CAF as well as the whole world are watching, and will not do anything untoward.”
Gusau, who is also the president of WAFU B, spoke against the backdrop of widespread fears among Nigerians that the match officials could blatantly or surreptitiously work in favour of the host nation, which is looking for a second AFCON title after its maiden gong 50 years ago.
According to The Guardian’s report, the Super Eagles camp continues to radiate confidence and self-belief ahead of the encounter, as the players keep strictly and professionally to their daily schedule at the Hotel Rihab and at the training ground – Complexe Sportif Mohamed VI.
Feelers from the Atlas Lions camp reveal that the players are in trepidation of the impact that Nigerian midfielder Alexander Iwobi can have on this night’s game.
Iwobi supplied 22 line-breaking passes in the second round game against Mozambique (which Nigeria won 4-0) and 14 against Algeria’s Desert Foxes in Saturday’s quarterfinal duel in Marrakech. Nigeria won both games, scoring six goals and conceding none.
The 29-year-old, who debuted for Nigeria against the Democratic Republic of Congo in a friendly in Belgium on October 8, 2015, also supplied the assists for Nigeria’s first two goals of the competition, in the 2-1 win over Tanzania in Fés on December 23. He will earn his 96th cap for the Super Eagles this night.
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