'There is commitment' - Former Super Eagles coach backs Osimhen to lead Nigeria to AFCON glory

Former Nigeria coach and captain Sunday Oliseh believes Victor Osimhen can fire the Super Eagles to Africa Cup of Nations glory.

Although the Napoli superstar has netted just once at the ongoing tournament in Ivory Coast, he has made several key contributions, winning a game-winning penalty against Ivory Coast, forcing an own goal in the win versus Guinea-Bissau and provided the assist for the opening goal against Cameroon. 

Osimhen was in prime form during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, scoring ten goals to emerge as the top scorer.

Oliseh admitted that he was surprised by the performance of the Nigeria team so far at the 2023 AFCON especially as they were on a poor run of form before the AFCON, having drawn their opening two games in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers before losing to Guinea in their last friendly before their trip to Ivory Coast.

Solid defensive displays have been key to their progress, with the three-time African champions posting three consecutive clean sheets  for the first time under Jose Peseiro.

Speaking to Btolat, Oliseh said: "Nigeria played great matches with the coach, Jose Peseiro, who received a lot of terrible criticism from the media, and I do not like to talk about it as a coach at the present time.

"But Nigeria was great in the last three matches, especially against Cameroon, and they performed well against the hosts, Côte d’Ivoire.

"There is commitment and spirit on the part of all the players, led by Victor Osimhen . I believe he is capable of leading the national team to win the title.

"I hope we win the tournament. Nigeria has a very strong team, but there are distinguished competitors such as Senegal and Morocco."

Nigeria will face dark horses Angola on Friday evening at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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