DESPITE being without a club for over four months, Nigeria’s Ahmed Musa is top on the list of players invited by coach Gernot Rohr for this month’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Lesotho and the Benin Republic.

In the list made public on Tuesday, Musa who is the captain of the national team was invited along with 23 others while seven players, including long-time goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi, were placed on standby.

Those in the roster for the double-header against the Squirrels and Crocodiles include deputy captain William Troost-Ekong, returning goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho, midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and forward Victor Osimhen.

Nigeria currently tops the Group E log with eight points (one ahead of Benin Republic and five more than third-placed Sierra Leone). The Eagles will tackle the Squirrels at the Stade Charles de Gaulle in Porto Novo on Saturday, March 27, and will lock horns with Likuena at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos three days later. Both are the concluding games of the AFCON qualifying series.

Also included are Enyimba FC goalkeeper John Noble, defenders Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo and Olaoluwa Aina, midfielders Oghenekaro Etebo and Joseph Ayodele-Aribo, and forwards Alex Iwobi, Moses Simon, and Samuel Chukwueze.