By Victor Kanayo
Top Nigerian international striker, Victor Osimhen, has been ruled out of a prestigious friendly between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and World Cup-bound Portugal.
The clash which is the last tune up game for the Portuguese side before they head to Qatar for 2022 World Cup, will happen on Thursday November 17 as from 7.45pm Nigerian time inside the Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon.
This is the second match the Napoli hotshot man will be missing for the country.
He failed to feature in the match against Algeria in October.
Osimhen sustained an injury in Napoli’s 3-2 home win against Udinese over the weekend in Italy.
The forward opened scoring for the Partenopei in the thrilling encounter.
Also ruled out of the Portugal encounter is Olisa Ndah due to injury as well.
The centre back who plies his trade in South Africa was hoping to make his first appearance for the Super Eagles since the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Head coach, Jose Peseiro, has already called up Cyriel Dessers and Chidozie Awaziem as replacements for the duo.
“Update Portugal V Nigeria friendly: Chidozie Awaziem replaces injured Olisa Ndah While Cyriel Dessers replaces injured Victor Osimhen,” reads a tweet on the NFF’s Twitter handle.
On Monday night, up to 11 Super Eagles stars who arrived camp early had their first training session with 20 of them on ground as at the time of publishing this story on Tuesday morning.
It was the same day, the Portuguese team regrouped ahead of the friendly tie, before jetting out for their first World Cup game.