With barely some few days to the epic clash between Ghana and Nigeria in the first leg of the 2022 World Cup play off, head coach of the Super Green Eagles Augustine Eguavoen has revealed that the inclusion of Ogenyi Onazi was to pacify everyone.

Nigerians were fuming about the inclusion of Ogenyi Onazi in the Super Eagle's 32 man squad to play against Ghana in the World Cup play offs.

But, when asked about the Player’s “shock” inclusion in the squad list for the crucial qualifiers against the Black Stars of Ghana at a meet and greet in Lagos, Eguavoen described it as a necessary move.

“Onazi good player,” Eguavoen explained. “Whether he is still good; can play at that level, we don’t know.

“But that’s why I said, okay you know what, to pacify everybody, to just make sure there’s harmony here, put him on a standby. But he is on a standby. But again I have the final say.”

The two fierce rivals will rekindle hostilities when they square off in a two legged play off that will see the winner book its ticket to the World Cup later this year in the gulf state.

Ghana failed miserably at the recent African Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon as they were booted out at the group stages while Nigeria who played well exited at the round of 16.

But ahead of the tie there is a lot of believe from the Nigerians that it will be an easy ride against an easy Ghana side.

Ghana will play host to Nigeria on March 25, 2022 at the Cape Coast Stadium before the reverse fixture at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on March 29, 2022.

The inclusion of the Saudi based Al-Adalah player has raised a lot of eyebrows since the 29 year old central midfielder has not played for Nigeria in years.

Onazi is on the stand by list and that has caused a lot of consternation among Nigerian supporters who believe he is not worth it.

The 29year old midfielder last appeared for Nigeria four years ago, in a 3-0 win over Seychelles in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.