Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen says the fans will still see the best of the team at the ongoing 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast as they continue their quest to win a fourth Africa Cup of Nations title for Nigerian, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Nigeria are through to the quarter-finals of the tournament thanks to a 2-0 win over Cameroon on Saturday at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan.
Osimhen was instrumental to Nigeria’s win on Saturday by unselfishly setting up Ademola Lookman for Nigeria’s first goal in the first half before the Atalanta man finished off the game with his brace in the 90th minute.
The Napoli striker’s heroics endeared him to Nigerian fans again, as he was heavily criticised for missing several chances during the group stages.
“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,” Osimhen told beIN SPORTS.
“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.”
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.
Contact: [email protected]
