Chelsea
winger Victor Moses has an ’80% chance’ to feature in today’s Super
Eagles’ AFCON final against the Stallions of Burkina Faso after training
with his teammates in Johannesburg Saturday.
Moses picked up a left ankle injury early in Wednesday’s semi-final
against Mali in Durban and has therefore been a major injury concern for
Nigeria.
He missed the Eagles’ first training in Johannesburg on Thursday, but
he returned to the pitch on Friday and was drilled by the team’s
physio.
Moses, who scored two penalties when Nigeria beat Ethiopia in
Rustenburg, revealed on his twitter handle that he is currently under
treatment and should be fit. “Lot of people asking about my injury, I’m
having treatment and hopefully should be fine for the final,” tweeted
Moses.
However, Moses trained with the team Saturday evening as he kicked the ball and ran around without any hint of pain.
“Moses has a good chance of playing the final. It has been put at 80%
and he has agreed to play beyond the pain barrier,” a team official said
according to MTNfootball.com.
Meanwhile, fellow attacker and joint-top score of the Nations Cup,
Emmanuel Emenike is still a doubt as he hasn’t featured in any training
match since Wednesday’s match. The Spartak Moscow striker sat out the
team’s training Saturday evening though there are suspicions that this
might just be a ploy to deceive the Burkinabes.
Emenike sat down and watched the team train without putting on his
boots. But close sources say that the Spartak Moscow striker is likely
to start, something that would surprise their opponents.
Speaking ahead of the team’s last training session at the Soccer City
in Soweto, Super Eagles boss, Stephen Keshi was quoted by team’s Media
Officer, Ben Alaiya, as saying “I will wait till the last minute and by
Sunday we will know whether the boys will play or not, any other opinion
is unacceptable.”
He however assured Nigerians not to panic over the two players as the
medics are working round the clock to ensure that they are fit for the
final, even as he said that in the case of the unexpected he has capable
replacements to fit into the shoes of the duo.
“I can understand the apprehension of the public over the two players
but we must be a little patient, because I know that the two of them
want to play in the final and the medical team is working round the
clock.”
Moses and Emenike have scored six goals between them as well as chipping in with a fair amount of assists
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