'It hurts' - Belgium-eligible Rangers striker eager to play cap-tying game for Super Eagles

Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers has expressed his disappointment at not yet making a cap-tying appearance for Nigeria, despite being involved with the Super Eagles setup since 2020.

Dessers made his international debut in a friendly against Tunisia in October 2020 and has since featured seven times for Nigeria — all in non-competitive fixtures. 

As a result, the Tongeren-born forward remains eligible to represent Belgium, his country of birth, although he has publicly pledged his commitment to the three-time African champions.

Despite scoring in a friendly against Mexico in May 2022, Dessers was left on the bench during back-to-back AFCON qualifiers the following month. 

He has also been overlooked by successive national team coaches — from Gernot Rohr to Finidi George — in competitive match squads.

Dessers noted that Nigeria boasts a wealth of attacking talent, with promising strikers continually emerging.

"I don't like the world competition because I think we all have the same goal here in the national team," Dessers told Modzero Sport in London.  

"You see some extra strikers popped up again, Tolu (Arokodare) had an amazing season with Genk in Belgium, so there is always new talents coming up.

"For me personally, I've had a very good season, I am very happy with that. I got better this season, stronger, more experienced, more calm in the head so I hope I can show that and bring that to the national team as well."

Despite impressing with his work ethic during Super Eagles duty, he has consistently been overlooked for competitive matches. 

"It hurts sometimes, you feel disappointed. I have been in and around the squad for five years now and I haven't played in an official game yet, only friendly games, so I must say that hurts.

"On the other hand, there's always a lot of different factors. Of course, you have a few strikers, like for example like Victor Osimhen, who is a clear number one.

"It always depends on form, on choices, on personal opinion but I would say the two Afcons I missed out really hurt because I felt at that moment with my form I had a place in the squad.

"It's a big country, there's a lot of competition, we have a lot of good strikers. Who am I? I'm not making the choices. The only thing I can do is perform, score my goals at my club and show that I'm ready."

Dessers trained with Belgium U21s in 2015 before a European Championship qualifier against Moldova.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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