Afcon 2023: Unpalatable news as Musa and Uzoho make Peseiro’s final 25 man list

  The inclusion of Francis Uzoho (Omonia FC, Cyprus), Ahmed Musa (Sivasspor K, Turkey), and other players who have not been in spectacular form in coach Jose Peseiro's final list of players for the Afcon 2023 will no doubt increase the number of Nigerians who are skeptical of the team chances of winning the trophy.

 While Uzoho’s form for his club and most especially for his country has been a major source of concern and headache for football-loving Nigerians, Musa has not been very active for his Turkish club this season.

Peseiro settling for usual suspects in a roster that has three goalkeepers, nine defenders, five midfielders, and eight forwards.

Musa returns to the squad after he was left out of the starting games of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification series, while South Africa-based goalkeeper Stanley Nwabili is picked alongside Uzoho and Olorunleke Ojo.

2009 U17 World Cup star Kenneth Omeruo (the only other candidate in the team apart from Musa who was in Nigeria’s 2013 squad that triumphed in South Africa) leads the defenceline alongside William Ekong, as well as Olaoluwa Aina, Oluwasemilogo Ajayi, Calvin Bassey, Zaidu Sanusi, Chidozie Awaziem, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Bruno Onyemaechi.

Wilfred Ndidi is also back in the roost after missing the World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho and Zimbabwe and will be expected to adequately feed the strike force alongside Alex Iwobi, Raphael Onyedika, Joe Ayodele-Aribo and Frank Onyeka.

Musa is in the forward line alongside Africa Player of the Year Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, Samuel Chukwueze, Victor Boniface, Sadiq Umar, and Ademola Lookman.

All 25 players will depart from their different bases on Tuesday, 2nd January to fly into Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, for a one-week training camp that will last until Tuesday, 9th January. The team will fly back to Lagos on Tuesday 9th January, and then fly into the Ivorian capital, Abidjan on Wednesday, 10th January.

The Super Eagles, in their quest for a fourth continental title, will take on Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, 14th January in their first match of Group A, before further clashes with host nation Cote d’Ivoire (18th January) and Guinea Bissau (22nd January).

Nigeria, who will be participating in the Africa Cup of Nations for the 20th time, were champions as hosts in 1980, triumphant in Tunisia in 1994, and crowned winners in South Africa in 2013.

When Cote d’Ivoire hosted the finals in 1984, a young Nigerian squad led by the inimitable Stephen Keshi went all the way to the Final, before losing to the much-experienced Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in a memorable Final at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan.