Iwobi cleared to play against Lesotho tonight after second coronavirus test comes out negative

EVERTON midfielder Alex Iwobi has been cleared to play for the Super Eagles tonight when Nigeria takes on the Crocodiles of Lesotho in an African Cup of Nations qualifier after he tested negative for coronavirus despite testing positive over the weekend.

On Saturday, Nigeria and Benin Republic faced each other in an African Cup of Nations qualifier at the Charles de Gaulle Stadium in Porto Novo. Although Nigeria won the game 1-0 and went on to qualify for the 2021 tournament, Iwobi could not feature in the match because he was diagnosed as coronavirus-positive by the local Benin authorities.

Under Fifa rules, host authorities have to text all players for coronavirus before matches and anyone diagnosed as positive has to be isolated from the rest of the team. Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) authorities now suspect that Iwobi’s positive result was fake and was the Benin authorities playing a fast one to ensure that the playmaker did not feature against their team.

Before the game, Iwobi was sent back to Lagos to isolate immediately after the result of the test was revealed in the Super Eagles camp. Nigeria has now carried out its own test on Iwobi and he has proven to be negative, clearing him to feature in tonight’s game taking place at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

It is suspected that the Beninoise authorities mate have falsified the results to get Iwobi ruled out of the Porto Novo match. It is not yet clear if the NFF intends to lodge a complaint with Fifa or the Confederation of African Football over the matter.