Sand Eagles step up preparations for Ghana beach soccer showdown

The camp of the Beach Soccer National Team, Sand Eagles, is bubbling with all invited 20 players now in camp as preparations shifted into high gear for next month’s CAF Beach Soccer AFCON qualifying fixture against Ghana’s Black Sharks.

For the past week, the Sand Eagles have been undergoing tactical and technical drills at the Murtala Muhammed Square Sports Complex in Kaduna, under the supervision of Coach Christopher Kadiri, as the team’s Head Coach, Abdullahi Isa, is currently with the U17 Boys National Team, Golden Eaglets, which is preparing for the WAFU-B U17 Championship scheduled for Ouagadougou, also next month.

The Sand Eagles are due to host Ghana’s Black Sharks in Kaduna on Saturday, 10 October, with the second leg to take place in Accra on Saturday, 17 October.

After several years in the cold, Nigeria returned to beach soccer’s international terrain two years ago, but lost on the away -goal rule to Mauritania in the qualifying series for that year’s CAF Beach Soccer AFCON that was hosted by Seychelles.

The winner between Nigeria and Ghana in next month’s fixture will earn a ticket to this year’s CAF Beach Soccer AFCON finals, scheduled for 7– 15 November in Senegal.

Already, the NFF has approached the Fédération Sénegalaise de Football for the perennial African champions to play a couple of friendly matches with the Sand Eagles as part of preparations for the double confrontation with Ghana’s Black Sharks.

SAND EAGLES FOR AFCON QUALIFYING FIXTURE AGAINST GHANA

Goalkeepers: Godwin Tale (Kada BSC); Nuhu Noma Aiki (Kebbi BSC); Olalekan Oladipo (Kada BSC)

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Defenders: Victor Tale (Kada BSC); Taiwo Adams (Kebbi BSC); Emmanuel Ohwoferia (Kebbi BSC); Clement Eganosi (Anambra BSC); Effiong Eyo (Ibom BSC); Chinweze Gabriel (Anambra BSC)

Forwards: Dozie Frank (Kada BSC); Stanley Ekwe (Anambra BSC); Tanko Emmanuel (Kada BSC); Ekene Obi (Kebbi BSC); Hassan Abubakar (Niger BSC); Sadiq Umar (Kebbi BSC); Kazeem Oyewunmi (Igbogbo BSC); Hassan Abdullahi (Kebbi BSC); Godspower Igudia (Edo BSC); Hamza Bagudu (Jigawa BSC); Hamza Isa (Kebbi BSC