Bassey joins Eagles for Poland friendly

Fulham defender Calvin Bassey teamed up with the Super Eagles in Warsaw on Tuesday, taking the number of players in camp ahead of Wednesday’s international friendly to 20, PidomNigeria Sports Extra reports.

Bassey’s arrival also gives coach Eric Chelle more options in defence as he welcomed the energetic defender into camp.

Germany-based Philip Otele, who shone at the Unity Cup in London, was expected to arrive in camp on Tuesday night.

Chelle can now pick and choose his rearguard, with the Fulham defender able to partner the motivated Semi Ajayi in central defence, while Igoh Ogbu and Emmanuel Fernandez are also available.

“Now, we have a team and we are preparing to go out there and win. Winning is the mentality that we are trying to create in the team, in the players. We will go for a win on Wednesday,” said Chelle.

Goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, who arrived in Warsaw on Monday afternoon, immediately joined the team for training and showed excellent form. There is also Arthur Okonkwo, who kept clean sheets in his first two matches for Nigeria as the Eagles won the Unity Cup in London, as well as Cyprus-based Francis Uzoho.

Zaidu Sanusi, a league champion with FC Porto in Portugal, and Bruno Onyemaechi will contend for the left-back slot, while captain Wilfred Ndidi, Frank Onyeka, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Tochukwu Nnadi, Raphael Onyedika and youngster Abdullahi Bewene are available in midfield.

Moses Simon, Akor Adams, Rafiu Durosinmi, Terem Moffi, Philip Otele and Paul Onuachu are the attacking options.

Just as Poland experimented with a number of debutants in their last match against Ukraine on Sunday, Nigeria also fielded several debutants in their last two games as they won the Unity Cup.

Coach Jan Urban may rely principally on in-form winger Jakub Kamiński, who came on as a substitute against Ukraine, but there are also the likes of Oskar Pietuszewski, Mateusz Żukowski, Norbert Wojtuszek, Kacper Potulski and Oskar Wójcik.

Wednesday’s game will commence at 8:45pm Poland time (7:45pm Nigeria time) at the 58,000-capacity PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw.