The Media Officer of the Super Eagles, Toyin Ibitoye, has confirmed on Thursday that the team’s Head Coach, Sunday Oliseh will not be available to tutor the Home-based Eagles when the team meets the Etalons of Burkina Faso in Saturday’s 2016 CHAN qualifier, owing to ill health.
This is contrary to an earlier statement released by the Nigeria Football Federation on Wednesday that Oliseh was hale and hearty, and would lead the team in the match to be played in Port Harcourt.
“Coach @SundayOOliseh isn’t ill & hasn’t opted out of Saturday’s CHAN game. He joins the team Thursday,” the NFF wrote on its official Twitter handle.
In an interview with Channels TV, Ibitoye said that Oliseh will return to Nigeria from Belgium on October 18, a day after the game.
The coach’s assistants, Jean-Francois Loscuito and Salisu Yusuf, will be in charge of the team for the encounter.
Yusuf, who has coached two of Nigeria’s biggest league teams, Enyimba FC of Aba and Kano pillars, has been in charge of the Home-based Eagles team since the camp opened in Port Harcourt in preparation for the Burkina Faso encounter.
The return leg of the game comes up in the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou, in the following weekend.