Ighalo Yearns For Super Eagles Call-Up

Watford FC of England striker Odion Ighalo has expressed his desire to make his senior debut for the Super Eagles of Nigeria. The 25-year-old had previously represented Nigeria at U-20 level but is yet to receive a call-up to the senior team despite his outstanding performance in the English Championship this season. He is an established member of the Championship club’s starting XI and has scored 12 goals in 8 games for the promotion chasers. According to UK-based newspaper Watford Observer, the striker said “I have not played for Nigeria’s first team but it is something I am hoping to do. It is every footballer’s dream to play for their national team and it is the same for me. It is something I am looking forward to achieving one day. If I am called up for the next game then I will go. If not, I will continue to work harder to get in the squad.” The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) have lined up two international friendlies for the Super Eagles next month. Nigeria will play host to Bolivia on March 26 and meet Ghana three days later in London. Ighalo hopes his tremendous contribution this season doesn’t go unnoticed and will be enough to earn him an invitation for the March friendlies. He said: “I just hope somebody there is watching the Championship, I know they watch the Premier League there. If I continue to do well, then if I get that call-up then I am ready to go and represent my country.” Ighalo started his career in Nigeria with Prime FC and also played for Julius Berger before joining the European bandwagon at the age of 18. He joined Norwegian club Lyn. He made a move to Italian Serie A with Udinese, owned by the Pozzo family, in 2008 after just a year with the Oslo-based club. He then spent almost five years on loan at Granada, another Pozzo-owned club, between 2009 and 2014, helping the club to climb from the third tier of Spanish football to La Liga. He initially signed for Pozzo-owned Watford FC in the summer on a season-long loan but the deal was made permanent in October.   About the Writer: Arinze Ude (@arturozinga) is an aspiring cancer research scientist with a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences (Haematology). He is keen on building partnerships and managing the careers of Nigerian sportsmen and women. He blogs at http://arturozinga.wordpress.com

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This article was first published on 23rd February 2015

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