Awaziem in contention to start against Guinea-Bissau after he participates in training session

ALANYASPOR centreback Chigozie Awaziem has allayed fears that he could be out of the ongoing African Cup of Nations with injury after he trained with the Super Eagles yesterday and is now in contention for a starting shirt against Guinea-Bissau tomorrow.

Awaziem, 25, who currently plays in the Turkish league with Alanyaspor, has missed out on Nigeria's opening two games in the tournament against Egypt and Sudan. It was thought that he only had a slight knock and would be back immediately but since the team arrived in Cameroon, he has been training alone.

Team officials had believed that Awaziem may have hid the extent of his injury from them in order to make the African Nations Cup squad. They feared that he could be out of action for at least two weeks, meaning he will not feature in the tournament at all, as even if he recovers before the final.

Yesterday, however, Awaziem trained with the first team, putting him in contention to be included in the game against Guinea-Bissau. It had been feared that Awaziem had Covid-19 at one stage, although prior to the Sudan game, Super Eagles head coach Augustine Eguavoen, said the central defender was nursing an ankle complaint.

With Awaziem participating the full training session yesterday, it will help Mr Eguavoen who plans to make significant changes, allowing him to rest some of the players who featured in the two opening games. In another piece of good news, Torino fullback Ola Aina, is also back training after sitting out the previous session with a knock.