By Sab Osuji
Nigeria’s U23 national team coach, Imama Amapakabo, says Kelechi Nwakali remains a very important member of the team despite the youngster’s inability to play club football since March.
Nwakali, on loan from Arsenal, has not featured for FC Porto of Portugal since March when he helped the Dream Team V11 overpower Libya 4-2 aggregate in a Japan 2020 Olympic qualifier in Asaba, Delta State.
Nwakali’s predicament is hinged on visa related issues with Portuguese embassy, forcing the former Golden Eaglets FIFA U17 World Cup winner (Chile 2015) to miss club football since March.
Amapakabo while bemoaning the player’s travail told The Nigerian Xpress Sports that in spite of the situation Nwakali remains an integral part of the U23 Dream Team who will battle their Sudanese counterpart in September in the final qualifying matches home and away, for Japan 2020 Olympic Games ticket.
“Nwakali is the Vice Captain of the U23 National Team. He’s a very important member of the Dream Team”, starts Amapakabo when he spoke exclusively with The Nigerian Xpress Sports.
“I’ve been in constant touch with him, and NFF has been too, monitoring situations and offering assistance as to get him back to action for his club.
“That he’s not playing (for his Portuguese club) is not a fault of his. The boy wants to go back and play for his team but the circumstances he found himself serving his fatherland has been a challenge.
“We’ve been in constant touch hoping things will be resolved so he gets back to play for his club”.
Nigeria overcame Libya 4-2 on aggregate to set up a clash with Sudan in the final qualification games for the 2020 Olympic Games.
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The match was originally scheduled for next month, June, but has now been moved to September.
Ahead of the epic clash, Amapakabo said he has submitted his training programs to NFF while embarking on scouting mission across NPFL match centers to take a closer look at players he intends to call to camp for the crucial tie.
“I’ve submitted my programs but it is left for the owners of the team, the Sports Ministry, to determine when that will be.”
But Allwell Nwakali, elder brother of Kelechi Nwakali further revealed exclusively The Nigerian Xpress Sports that his brother (Kelechi) will soon be on his way back to Portugal to rejoin his FC Porto team after receiving his travel document (visa) from the Portuguese embassy.
“Everything has been sorted out, Kelechi will travel back to Portugal very, very soon”, the Nwakali senior said gleefully.
“It has been a turbulent period but thank God, it’s all over now. Kelechi will very, very soon, go back to Porto.”
