Super Eagles striker Taiwo Awoniyi has played down his omission from Nigeria’s final squad for the 2025 AFCON, urging fans to rally behind the selected players, SportPremi reports.
The Nottingham Forest forward was included in the initial preliminary list for the African Cup of Nations tournament, but was dropped when head coach Eric Chelle’s final list was submitted on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old has struggled with injury and inconsistency at the Tricky Trees this season and has only played four times in all competitions this season.
Nigeria head coach Chelle named a final 28-man traveling squad to represent the country at the tournament in Morocco, with Awoniyi’s club teammate Ola Aina also excluded due to fitness concerns.
The three-time champions begin their campaign at the tournament against Tanzania on the 23rd of this month, before playing subsequent group games against Tunisia and Uganda on the 27th and 30th respectively.
Everything Awoniyi said
While reacting to the announcement of the final squad list to represent Nigeria at the continental competition, Awoniyi expressed optimism in the selected players ability, tipping them for glory.
“It is always a great list no matter the player that gets on the list. Not everyone can be on the list. That’s what every player needs to accept and that’s what the country also needs to know”, the 28-year-old revealed.
“Once the coach brings out the list, the coach knows what he wants, he has seen the players and he made the decision and everyone needs to accept it and the whole country just needs to support the boys and give them the maximum support they need and hopefully and by God’s grace the cup will be ours.”
The Super Eagles forward could also return for Nottingham Forest’s clash against Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League this weekend.
The Tricky Trees have endured a disappointing start to the season, as they have struggled to balance their league duties with European commitment.
“I believe we will be back to where we were before because when you look at it’s been years without European football, now we play European football, we won yesterday, so those are the factors also”, Awoniyi added.
“When a team is playing in the league and also competing in the European standard, these are things that have a lot of effects on the team as well but sometimes we just have to keep on going and we will be back to where we are,” Awoniyi concluded.
Nottingham Forest welcome Tottenham Hotspur to the City Ground on Sunday, with both sides eyeing maximum points after superb results in Europe in midweek.
