Oghenekaro Etebo: Galatasaray midfielder suffers injury, out of Super Eagles' October friendlies
- Oghenekaro Etebo was in action for 90 minutes in Galatasaray’s away loss to Kasimpasa
- The Super Eagles have confirmed that the midfielder got injured in that game
- Etebo has been ruled out of Nigeria’s friendlies with Algeria and Tunisia
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Oghenekaro Etebo has been ruled out of the Super Eagles friendly matches with Algeria and Tunisia on October 9 and 13 respectively after the midfielder suffered injury at his club Galatasaray.
The 24-year-old managed to play full 90 minutes in his club’s 1-0 loss to Kasimpasa in the Turkish Super Lig on Sunday October 4.
“Oghenekaro Etebo is out of the friendlies. He picked up a knock in his club's game in Turkey yesterday,” said the Super Eagles on their official Instagram handle.
The friendly matches against Algeria and Tunisia are put together as preparatory games ahead of the November 9 and 17 double header with Sierra Leone in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Nigeria lead Group L in the qualifying series having defeated Benin Republic and Lesotho in 2019 to claim maximum points.
Earlier billed for 2021, the African Cup of nations has been shifted until 2022, no thanks to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic which forced football to be halted across the world for months.
And this is coming barely three days that an Algerian player Ilyes Chetti tested positive for the dreaded coronavirus.
The Esperance of Tunisia defender has been ordered into 10-day self-isolation, meaning he will be unavailable for his country’s friendlies against Nigeria and Mexico.
Source: Getty Images
Nigeria’s game against the Fennec Foxes is billed for Friday, October 9 and head coach of the Algerian national team Djamel Belmadi is expected to release his squad list.
Recall that Super Eagles' friendly against Cote d'Ivoire was canceled after the Ivorian FA sent a letter to the NFF regretting that The Elephants will not be able to honor the friendly citing ‘internal problems’.
But reigning African champions Algeria have accepted the offer to face Gernot Rohr's side in Austria.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Algeria will likely face the Super Eagles of Nigeria without six key players as both teams prepare.
Complete Sports citing africanfootballhq.com are reporting that Youcef Atal, as well as his Nice teammate Hicham Boudaoui are injured and both players have been ruled out of the clash.
Coach Belmadi will also be without Saudi Arabia-based duo, Djamel Benlamiri and Youcef Belaili, who were part of the squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019.
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