Players of Nigeria’s Super Eagles fired blanks in their evening training session on Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier (WCQ) against Central African Republic in Lagos.
There were no goals in the team’s first full training session held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, venue of Thursday’s encounter.
Twenty-two players took part in Tuesday’s training although Belgium based Paul Onuachu only did some light sessions due to a knock he is carrying.
In the session, goalkeeper Odinaka Francis Uzoho made a couple of point blank saves to deny Taiwo Awoniyi and Joe Aribo in two of the few good chances created during the 45-minute session.
The session also included drills on set-pieces (corner kicks, free kicks and penalty kicks) but goals were no where to be found until the penalty shootout during which South Africa based goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi saved two of the over ten attempts he face, Uzoho saved one.
Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper Maduka Okoye was the only player out of the 23-man squad invited for the double-header fixtures against CAR who missed out entirely on Tuesday. He is expected to join the team before the next training session.
Nigeria will face the Central Africans in their third group game on Thursday with kick-off time set for 5pm local time. Both teams will then face in Douala, Cameroon for the second installment of the double-header fixtures.
The Super Eagles are top of Group C with six maximum points from their first two games.
Fisayo Dairo reporting from Lagos
