Lookman, Aina out as Eagles seek to end qualifiers with 100% home record

Uyo, Akwa Ibom State is set to host one of Nigeria’s best football matches in recent times, when the Super Eagles take on the Amavubi of Rwanda in the last match of the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series, today.

The game is a dead rubber match for the Super Eagles, but for Rwanda, who are looking for a win with the hope that the Benin Republic will stumble in their game against Libya, in Benghazi, it is a do-or-die affair.

In the pre-match press conference, the Super Eagles assured Nigerians that they were ready to put smiles on their faces, adding that playing without pressure would bring out the best in them.
Nigeria will go into the game without injured African Footballer of the Year top contender, Ademola Lookman, and Nottingham Forest defender, Ola Aina, as well as, first choice goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, who lost his father last week. But even without the trio, the Super Eagles are confident of a resounding victory.

The three-time African champions say that they are determined to sustain their recent form and spirit ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers that resume in four months, and Coach Augustine Eguavoen believes that the absence of grieving goalkeeper Nwabali, Aina, and in-form forward, Lookman will not stop their momentum.

Nwabali was excused from the camp to visit family and relations following the demise of his father, while Aina was allowed to fly back to the United Kingdom for a crucial tie, with Nigeria already qualified for the AFCON.

Lookman, with two goals in the qualifiers like teammate Victor Osimhen, suffered a knock in the front end of this window’s double-header, against Benin Republic’s Cheetahs, in Abidjan on Thursday, and left camp on Saturday.

The Super Eagles are not unaware of the fact that the Amavubi are in the same 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying group with them and that they (Rwanda) are the next opponents when the World Cup qualifying campaign resumes in March 2025.

Today’s encounter will see the return of former number one safe hand, Maduka Okoye, and Bright Osayi-Samuel could start at right wing-back in the absence of Aina, with Bruno Onyemaechi at the left wing-back, and Captain William Ekong and Calvin Bassey at centre-back.

Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Frank Onyeka, Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, and Raphael Onyedika are still the options in the middle.

Victor Osimhen, whose goal earned the one point in Abidjan that took Nigeria to the top of the pool, will hope to score against the Amavubi, having come quite close several times when he joined the fray as a second-half substitute in Kigali, in September.

He also has the target of overtaking former captain Olusegun Odegbami on the goals tally for Nigeria.

The absence of Lookman means so much will be expected from fit-fighting and usually-dependable Moses Simon, with Samuel Chukwueze, Sadiq Umar, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Victor Boniface all in the race for slots in the fore.