S’Eagles in winning mood, our best yet to come–Osimhen
Maureen Aguta
“We want to win; we want to help each other and for me, we are more of a family than just players. So, it’s important to have this mentality to make sure we win every game but with respect to our opponent as well. We are really happy about this win and we want to keep the momentum going.”
These were the exact words of Victor Osimhen, Napoli ace striker and Nigeria’s international, who has remained the backbone of Nigeria’s streak of successes at the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Cote D’Ivoire, where the Super Eagles are now in the quarter finals.
Against the backdrop of the Saturday’s vanquishing of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun, which has put Nigeria in good stead for the quest of the AFCON trophy, which it has won on three occasions – 1980, 1994 and 2023 – for the fourth time, Osimhen, told an appreciative Super Eagles fans to wait for better outings as the team were yet to give their best.
The leggy striker was quoted in an interview with beIN SPORTS, as saying: “I cannot lie, we haven’t played the best of our football yet but to be honest, all of us, the whole team we have this mentality of winning.”
Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro has deployed a 3-4-3 formation at the AFCON with Osimhen mostly being isolated but he is also full of praise for the team’s defensive abilities.
“The defenders have been focused from the start of this tournament. For us, we also have a very good goalkeeper. We are a team that defends and when we don’t have the ball, we try to help them and when we have the ball, we keep going.”
Osimhen has only one goal so far at the tournament, which was his header for Nigeria’s equaliser in their opening game against Equatorial Guinea.
Nigeria face Angola in the quarter-final at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan on Friday at 6pm Nigerian time.