VICTOR Moses, Super Eagles forward, is not likely to be available for Nigeria’s last World Cup 2018 qualifier against the Desert Foxes of Algeria and the Grade-A friendly against the La Albeceleste of Argentina next month. Both matches are scheduled for November 10 and 14 in Blida, Algeria and in Krasnoder, Russia.

Sources at the Glass House in Abuja hinted that the Chelsea wing-back who pulled up a hamstring injury in the Blues’ 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace a fortnight ago, has missed a further three games for the English champions and is not expected to be fully fit before the two clashes with Algeria and Argentina. It was further learnt that Eagles Franco-German Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr has decided not to hand the 2013 AFCON-winning star an invitation to allow him recover for the Eagles’ subsequent matches.

“I can confirm to you that Victor Moses is out of the tie as he won’t have fully recovered for the match; as much as we want to play our best players in the two games, we don’t also want to risk any player ahead of further national team games,” the source told AOIFootball.com.

The source also debunked the news in the Nigeria media that his omission was because of a purported fraction between the player’s club and the Nigerian FA. “There are no issues between us and Chelsea over his injury; these things are unavoidable in football and we can only wish the player recovers on time and come back to full fitness for both club and country,” the source added.

Moses was instrumental in the Super Eagles’ qualification to the World Cup in Russia next year, scoring three goals in the process. – ThisDay

– Oct 27, 2017 @ 18:24 GMT |