Barring last minute changes, recuperating Nigerian captain Austin "Jay Jay" Okocha is expected to play his first match at the on-going Africa Cup of Nations in the Super Eagles quarter-final cracker Saturday against defending champions Tunisia.

A member of the Eagles technical crew told PANA here Wednesday the former English Bolton FC captain had been certified fit to play by the medical team even before Nigeria's last group match against Senegal Tuesday.

Coach Austin Eguavoen said after the post-match conference he had an option to introduce Okocha in that game but dropped the idea with subsequent matches in mind.

"He (Okacha) has waited for too long and the eagerness to join his colleagues on the field is very visible in him. So far things are working in his favour to play on Saturday. What we are working on now is his stamina and hopefully he would have fully regained it before Saturday's match against Tunisia," a member of the Eagles coaching crew said.

Many Egyptian fans are also eager to see Okocha in action. He is always seen in the midst of fans signing autographs and taking pictures with them.

"The Egyptians are nice people and very warm to me but I did not come here to be signing autographs or taking pictures, I am here to lift my country in the quest to win the Nations Cup," Okocha stressed.

Meanwhile, Eguavoen has defended his pairing of strikers Ayo Makinwa with Obafemi Martins in the match against Senegal.

He said Makinwa, who earned his first Nations Cup cap in that match, did exactly what he was told to do and it was when the bench was satisfied with his role that he was pulled out.

"I have faith in the young lad and to the best of my knowledge, Makinwa did exactly what he was mandated to do in the heart of Senegalese defence and don't be surprised if you see him in the starting line-up in subsequent matches depending on the match plan," Eguavoen explained.

Nwankwo Kanu came in for Makinwa in the second-half and created openings for Martins' brace in the Eagles' 2-1 defeat of the Teranga Lions.

"Nobody is indispensable in my team, and I am not going to castigate anybody in the squad. I am proud of my players," Eguavoen added.