Nigeria are sweating on the fitness of Victor Osimhen ahead of this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations third-place play-off against Egypt.
In the absence of the suspended Wilfred Ndidi, Osimhen captained Nigeria against Morocco in the AFCON semi-final on Wednesday night.
However, the striker was substituted shortly before the penalty shootout with Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle revealing Osimhen had a “small injury”.
Explaining the late change in extra-time, Chelle said to reporters: “So since the beginning of this Africa Cup of Nations, every day at every training session we have done penalty sessions and statistically the players who took the penalties were the best, and that’s why we made changes to bring in the players who were going to shoot.
“Chukwueze came on to take his penalty and even though he didn’t score.
“So when we saw the match was heading towards penalties, it was when we brought in the players who were shooting the best.
“Victor had a small injury to his ankle and that’s why we brought in Paul, who statistically was one of the best shooters of this period.”
The decision to replace Osimhen with Paul Onuachu paid off as the former Southampton striker took and scored Nigeria’s first penalty in the shootout.
Samuel Chukwueze then had the chance to put the Super Eagles ahead after Stanley Nwabali had tipped Hamza Igamane’s effort around the post. But the Fulham winger sent a tame effort right into the arms of Yassine Bounou.
From there, Morocco converted their remaining spot-kicks with Youssef En-Nesyri netting the winning penalty after Bounou had saved from Bruno Onyemaechi in rather unorthodox fashion.
The result sees the host nation move on to Sunday’s final where they will face Senegal, while Nigeria take on Egypt in the third-place play-off, though Osimhen’s availability is in doubt.
