Nwankwo Kanu: We Must Rise To The Occasion Against Mali

Former captain of the Super Eagles Nwankwo Kanu is in South Africa cheering the Nigeria selection. He represented the national team in five editions of Africa's showpiece football event, the Cup of Nations.

The ex Arsenal striker says he is impressed with the performance of the Super Eagles at the ongoing tourney in South Africa.

''I frankly find the team attractive. Despite the rebuilding process, they show great maturity on the pitch. Players are motivated  as demonstrated by their performance against Côte d'Ivoire. Really, it's nice. Now, they must aim high,'' says Kanu to lebuteur.com.

Kanu has no doubt that the Eagles will defeat Mali in Wednesday's semi - final tie and qualify for the final

He said: ''Why not? We are in the semi-finals, we must think about going through and I am convinced that Nigeria can. We have good young players who have shown their strength in this tournament by standing up to the finalists of the previous edition (Zambia and Côte d'Ivoire, ed.) Of course, we respect the other qualified teams and must rise to the occasion against Mali in the semi-finals, but I sincerely believe that Nigeria can go far.''

Nwankwo Kanu recorded 87 international caps with the National Team. In a period of 17 years, he scored 13 times.