'We have to manage him' - NSC chairman admits Osimhen is way too passionate about Super Eagles

Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko has highlighted how Victor Osimhen inspired the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 World Cup playoffs when hope had almost faded. 

Statistically, Osimhen was Nigeria's most influential player during the World Cup qualifiers, netting six goals, including a sensational hat-trick in the Super Eagles' 4-0 rout of Benin on October 14.

His absence from five matches due to fitness issues proved costly, as Nigeria managed only four points from a possible fifteen, drawing four matches and suffering defeat to the Cheetahs in Abidjan.

With the Galatasaray player in the squad, Nigeria secured thirteen points from fifteen, winning every game except for a 1-1 draw with Zimbabwe in Uyo, a match in which the Galatasaray striker had opened the scoring in the 74th minute before a late equaliser denied victory.

Dikko opened up about Osimhen's fiery passion for the Super Eagles, revealing that the striker's intense emotions often need to be managed behind the scenes, especially after disappointing results. 

"Forget what you see outside the pitch. After every game if the team does not do well, we have to manage Osimhen in the dressing room because he's always passionate about it," Shehu Dikko told Channels TV.

The sports administrator added that the former Napoli star demands the same level of commitment from his teammates.

"He wants to push everybody to deliver. He wants everyone to play the way he plays, with the heart, with the mind, with everything they've got, regardless of whether they get injured or not.

"He's a good positive to the team, and even if you look at the qualification, basically all the games that he didn’t play, we had a problem."

With 29 goals in 44 international appearances, Osimhen is nine goals away from breaking the record for Nigeria's all-time leading goalscorer, a milestone currently held by the late Rashidi Yekini.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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