AFCON 2019: Iheanacho’s Super Eagles hopes dashed as CAF takes decision on Samuel Kalu

Kelechi Iheanacho’s hope of making it into the Super Eagles’ squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations has been dashed as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has now declared Samuel Kalu medically fit to play.

The Leicester City forward had been contacted and placed on standby as Nigeria await a decision from the CAF Medical Committee on Kalu’s participation at the 2019 Africa Nations Cup.
Kalu was rushed to hospital after he collapsed during a training session on Friday.

The incident happened 24 hours before the Eagles opened their AFCON campaign against new comers, Burundi, a game they won 1-0 thanks to Odion Ighalo’s goal.

Since it took place within the 24-hour time window a team is allowed before the kickoff of their opening game, Nigeria had the chance to substitute the player if the CAF Medical Committee determined that he cannot compete at the tournament.

With CAF’s verdict on Monday, Gernot Rohr can no longer call up any player from the standby list and would have to prosecute the rest of the tournament with the 23 players in his squad.

Iheanacho is one of the two players that was dropped from Rohr’s initial 25-man squad.