Nigeria boss Adegboye Onigbinde has left Finidi George out of his 35-man provisional squad for this summer's World Cup. The Town midfielder has received a double blow with the Nigerian FA denying German reports of a bid for Bayer Leverkusen manager Klaus Toppmöller.

Onigbinde has kept to his policy of leaving out stars like Finidi, Sunday Oliseh and Victor Ikpeba, all of whom must now have only the slimmest of chances of going to South Korea and Japan.

Despite reports of a rift between Onigbinde and the Nigerian FA regarding the addition of a couple of foreign coaches to assist the main coach, the NFA has denied making an approach for Bayer Leverkusen boss Klaus Toppmöller.

Yesterday German sources reported that Toppmöller was considering an offer from the NFA to manage Nigeria at the World Cup. A new manager might have given Finidi more of a chance of selection.

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