The Interview Editors
How do you feel about the victory against South Africa?
I am very happy for the victory and it’s obvious because all the people are happy that we made it to the semi-finals.
It was not an easy game, South Africa played very good football but we held on to win the match. We were patient, we continued to push and the goal came at the end, at the most important time.
Congratulations to Nigeria, congratulations to my teammates.
What are you looking forward to in the semifinal game against Algeria?
We want to give it our all like we have been doing in all our matches. The most important thing for us as a team is to go all out and win the trophy.
It is going to be tough because the target of all the teams in Egypt is to win the title and the remaining teams will want to take the trophy home. We know that but we are determined. We usually remind ourselves of the objective here.
It was difficult for the team to score goals in the first two games against Burundi and Guinea, scoring just two goals, but you already scored five goals in two games..
What’s paramount to us is winning games. We kept on getting the points and that was what helped is to get to the semifinal.
We knew it didn’t matter if we were winning 1-0 or 20-0, the most important thing is the victory. As you can see, we are improving with each game, goals have started coming and we are very confident of maintaining that.
Despite winning the title in 2013 in South Africa, the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the last two editions in 2015 and 2017, do you think the team can win this year’s title in Egypt?
Before 2013, when we won, we had not won it for more than a decade. After that, we failed to qualify, but now we are here, anything can happen. We believe in ourselves that we can make that happen again; we are going to do our best.
What can you say about the performance of the new kid on the block, Samuel Chukwueze?
I think he has a very good future in the Super Eagles.
As you can see, he’s just coming up. It’s not too long he joined the Super Eagles and for him to make this tournament means there is future for the national team.
I know it’s not that easy for a young lad like him to break into the team, but I know that in future, Nigerians will enjoy him.
He had a great game against South Africa and he and other young players are going to make the Super Eagles stronger, they are going to take over from some of us the older players when we retire. It’s good they are stepping up now.
As a player, what’s your personal target?
I have always dreamt of winning the AFCON and thank God I won it in 2013 but I want to win it again.
Also I want to win the World Cup, Insha Allah, when I go to the next World Cup in Qatar, if I’m still strong, and to win it.
