Eagles Doctor Clears Air On Idris, Reuben.

Super Eagles team doctor, Ibrahim Gyaran, says Kano Pillars duo of Papa Idris and Gabriel Reuben, were excused from the national camp because of the crucial nature of the match between Nigeria and Liberia in Calabar on October 13.

 He also revealed that while Idris has a recurring thigh injury, Reuben has a swollen groin that is being well treated, assuring that the two players will be back and better for the Nations Cup tournament proper in South Africa.

 “What we did in concert with Coach Stephen Keshi is precautionary measures so that we don’t have distractions of whatever type, when we have a serious game at hand”.

“Papa’s thigh has improved and if it were to be in a tournament, he would still have played some games for us, but we have to look at the long term and the options available, hence we asked him to go and get very decent treatment for the task ahead.

 As for Reuben, we have done scan over his swollen groin and even when some experts say nothing has gone wrong we still sent for other opinions on the injury in far away London and we are sure that when he finally returns we will see a fitter and better player.

Gyaran praised the foresight of the coaching crew to quickly take action and concentrate on 100 per cent fit players but assured that while Idris should be in full flight action between four-six weeks, Reuben will take between one to three months to be at his optimal best.

“We will keep monitoring them to ensure that they are both ready on time for the SA 2013 Nations Cup.” Meanwhile, Head Coach Stephen Keshi has upped the team’s training schedule from once a day to twice, starting from Tuesday.

He said on Tuesday that he has been very impressed with the response of his players in training. “The attitude is good and professional and if we maintain it, we will get the result we want against Liberia”, he said.