'Super powerful player' -  Arsenal Invincible Toure warns CIV to watch out for Osimhen, Nigeria's transition play 

Arsenal Invincible Kolo Toure has nothing but praise for Victor Osimhen, few days before his country  Ivory Coast take on Nigeria in the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. 

Toure has highlighted that Osimhen's speed and physicality could hurt the Elephants when the Super Eagles are in transition moments. 

The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations winner stressed that the Ivory Coast defenders have to be fast to stop the Napoli superstar from wreaking havoc.

Osimhen has shown his quality at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, drawing opposing defenders to himself and opening spaces for his teammates, which makes nonsense of the fact that he has scored just one goal in six matches. 

Toure reckons Ivory Coast must neutralize the reigning African Footballer of the Year if they are to stand a chance of lifting the AFCON trophy on Sunday. 

When asked the best way to stop the big star of the Nigeria team, Osimhen, Kolo Toure told the BBC World Service on Friday: "He's a super powerful player, he's got unbelievable speed. He has scored only one goal so far but what he brings to that team is incredible. 

"The system that they play they are really dangerous in transition because what Nigeria do is that they go to a 5-4-1, and as soon as they have the ball they try to find the two midfielders to go for a counter attack, and that's when Osimhen makes the run into space. 

"It's very important for Ivory Coast to have speed at the back because in my opinion they will dominate the ball, that's what happened when they played in the first game.

"As soon as Nigeria have the ball they will look for Osimhen in the space because he is super quick. They need to be really ready for the ball, and just anticipate that and run behind as fast as they can."

The Nigeria team at the AFCON is not all about Osimhen as they are built on defensive solidity, hardly give chances away and very difficult to break down.

Jose Peseiro's  team were on the brink of keeping five consecutive clean sheets until South Africa midfielder Teboho Mokoena scored from the spot in the 90th minute of Wednesday's semifinal clash.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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