Uzoho, Idowu set for Nigeria debut

AS Nigeria face Argentina in an international friendly at the Krasnodar Stadium, Russia today, coach Gernot Rohr also continues in his effort at building a formidable Super Eagles ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Towards this end, the German will hand down the gauntlet to new players today to see the stuff they are made of. The players are Francis Uzoho and Brian Oladapo Idowu.

Uzoho, a goalkeeper, was on the bench when Nigeria rounded off their World Cup qualifiers against Algeria in Constantine on Friday.

A member of the Golden Eaglets set of 2013 that won the FIFA World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, the turning point came for the goalkeeper when he made his La Liga debut for Spanish side, Deportivo La Coruna on October 15 and kept a clean slate. The match, against Eibar, ended in a goalless draw.

Uzoho had been in Qatar, joining Aspire Academy in 2013, the same year the Nigerian U-17 team, of which he was a member, won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the UAE. Three years later, he moved the youth team of Deprtivo La Coruna.

After delaying to sign for Deprtivo due to his young age, Uzoho signed for the club 10 months ago and began training with the first team and got promoted to the reserve team for the 2017-18 season.

Brian Idowu was born in St Petersburg, Russia, to Nigerian father and half-Russian half-Nigerian mother. Currently he plays for Russian Premier league side, FC Amkar Perm, which he joined in 2012.

Before Amkar Perm, the left back had featured for St Petersburg-based FC Smena and FC Zenit St. Petersburg. Idowu was on the high table, alongside captain Mikel Obi and Rohr, to address the press on Tuesday ahead of today’s match.

The Nigeria-Argentina match will kick off at 5pm.