Big guns for Catalonia test
by George Akpayen 21 December 2012, 16:19
Nigeria head coach, Stephen Keshi is considering handing a few of his overseas contingent the chance to face Catalonia in a friendly on January 2.
Nosa Igiebor, Ahmed Musa, Brown Ideye and Emmanuel Emenike are among players considered by Keshi for the pre-Afcon game.
"It will be good to have a few foreign-based pros for the game. I'm considering that and players like Ahmed Musa, Ideye and Emenike among others I might love to use alongside the home boys. A mixture of home boys and foreign-based for the game will be good.
"But let's wait till matchday. It's going to be a good test for the players and especially for the home boys," said the Nigerian manager.
Keshi also explained why he is looking at bringing in a handful of overseas players for the test game against Catalonia.
"Some of our foreign-based players will be free at that time since their clubs won't be involved in league games. As for our contingent in England we know that they play through the Christmas and New Year period. So they are out of it," he remarked.
"Besides the foreign-based players are much experienced and have played at very high level. So their presence will complement that of the home boys."
The former Mali and Togo coach is expected to name a provisional squad of overseas players for the Africa Cup of Nations on Christmas Day.
