NFF lists Osimhen, Umar, Ndidi, others for friendly against Black Stars, Les Aigles

The Super Eagles take a group photo before their AFCON 2023 semi-final game against South Africa. Photo: AFP

Africa vice champions, Nigeria, will take on Ghana’s Black Stars and Les Aigles of Mali in two top-grade friendly matches in the Moroccan city of Marrakech later this month.

Both matches have been put together by NFF’s FIFA Match Agent, Jairo Pachon of Eurodata Sport.

The clash with Ghana’s Black Stars, which comes up on Friday, March 22, is bound to resurrect vintage memories of a 73-year rivalry between the West African countries, which dates back to October 1951 when Nigeria bounced then Gold Coast 5-0 in a Jalco Cup encounter in Lagos.

Most recently, the two teams clashed in March 2022 in a two-legged play-off for a place at that year’s FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar, with the Black Stars edging the fixture on the away-goal rule after a 1-1 aggregate.

Nigeria and Mali, both teams incidentally nicknamed ‘Eagles’, last clashed in a friendly match in Rouen, France in the summer of 2016. The encounter ended scoreless. The Malian Eagles had, three years earlier, lost 1-4 to eventual winners Super Eagles in Durban in the semi-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

While Nigeria and Ghana will resume their rivalry at the Grand Stade de Marrakech as from 4.00pm Morocco time on March 22, the encounter between Nigeria and Mali will hold at the same venue as from 9.00pm on Tuesday, March 26.

Nigeria have retained the bulk of the squad that finished as runners-up at the 34th Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, but have recalled England-based defender Jamilu Collins, as well as Empoli FC of Italy’s Tyronne Ebuehi and Glasgow Rangers’ forward Cyriel Dessers.

Midfield enforcer, Wilfred Ndidi, who missed the continental house