Iwobi, Moses headline Nigeria's squad

June 04, 2018
Nigeria's Alex Iwobi (centre) duels for the ball with England's Dele Alli during a friendly match at Wembley stadium last Saturday. England won 2-1.

VIENNA (AP):

Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses are the big names in Nigeria's final 23-man squad for the World Cup, with John Obi Mikel as captain.

Iwobi, Moses and Kelechi Iheanacho offer coach Gernot Rohr a variety of options up front, while the 6-foot-6 striker Simeon Nwankwo is included after earning his first cap Monday against Congo.

Left-back Bryan Idowu, who was born and raised in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, could play in his home city when Nigeria take on Argentina in Group D, after Nigeria revealed their final squad on Twitter yesterday.

Goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa is the only squad member who plays for a Nigerian club after fellow 'keeper Dele Ajiboye and the Nigerian league's top scorer Junior Lokosa were both cut from the provisional squad.

Nigeria travelled to a training camp in Austria yesterday after a 2-1 friendly loss to England in London on Saturday. The Nigerians' final World Cup warm-up is against the Czech Republic on Wednesday.

Nigeria starts their sixth World Cup campaign against Croatia on June 16 in Kaliningrad before taking on Iceland in Volgograd on June 22 and then Argentina in St. Petersburg on June 26.