Caf clears Iwobi for Nigeria's Afcon qualifier against Lesotho

The Confederation of African Football has cleared Alex Iwobi to feature for Nigeria in their 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Lesotho.

The Super Eagles will take on the Crocodiles in their final Afcon qualifying game at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos on Tuesday evening.

Iwobi was not involved when Gernot Rohr’s men secured a 1-0 victory over the Republic of Benin on Friday after testing positive to Covid-19 on his arrival in Porto Novo.

The versatile midfielder, has, however, been subjected to another test in Lagos and the result came out negative.

With the result, Caf has now confirmed the former Arsenal star will be available for selection when the three-time African champions slug it out against the Crocodiles.

“Caf has cleared Alex Iwobi to play today's game against Lesotho,” read a statement from the NFF media channel.

“The Super Eagles player had earlier tested positive following the Covid-19 tests conducted on the Super Eagles squad on arrival in Porto Novo, Benin Republic.

“However, Iwobi's further Covid-19 tests have returned negative. Clina Lancet Laboratories in Victoria Island, Lagos conducted the PCR tests. With this, Alex Iwobi is up for selection today.”

Iwobi will hope to help the Super Eagles end the qualifiers on a winning note against Lesotho on their home soil.

Already, Nigeria coach Rohr has revealed his desire to see his side finish the qualifying campaign on a high.

“We hope to finish these qualifiers well, which we began since June 2017, we did not lose a qualifier and so we want to finish with a good victory,” Rohr told the media.

“We won’t underrate Lesotho because they have a good defence, they made some draws in this competition and they don’t have anything to lose.”

Nigeria have now qualified for the last two Africa Cup of Nations with games to spare under Rohr, after failing to feature in the 2017 edition.

The Super Eagles finished third at the last edition of the continental tournament in Egypt, behind winners Algeria and runners up Senegal.

Their best performances at the biennial competition were in 1980, 1994 and 2013, where they won the highly coveted trophy and will hope to clinch their fourth title at the 2022 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.