What Super Eagles Must Do To Win Nations Cup Trophy — Mikel

Former Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel has backed the team to win the 2023 African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

The Africa’s biggest football competition is expected to kick off in the West African country on January 13.

The Nigeria Football Federation has adopted a ‘Let’s Do It Again’ campaign to win the trophy again, 11 years after tasting glory in the competition.

Mikel Obi, who was a key player in the triumph in 2013 has tipped the team to go all the way to victory in Ivory Coast.

The former Chelsea star believes the team is blessed with a lot of quality players who can make things happen in the competition.

Mikel said, “Nigeria will win the 2023 AFCON and Victor Osimhen will win player of the tournament,”

“When it comes to the striking department, I think right now we are blessed. We are blessed with a lot of players there. [Taiwo] Awoniyi is doing well for Nottingham Forest and also for the national team.

Mikel admitted that the team is not a finished product yet, citing the defence and the problematic goalkeeping position as areas to fix.

“He [Victor Osimhen] is on fire. For me, he looks a little bit like Didier Drogba; he scores goals, he holds up play—a strong, young, and energetic striker.”

“We also have Victor Boniface of Bayer Leverkusen, who is doing really well. So we are quite blessed when it comes to striking force.

But we just have to fix some little issues with the defence and goalkeeping. I think if we can be able to do that, we’ve got a very good chance to win it.”

The Super Eagles are three-time champions of the competition, winning it in 1980, 1994 and 2013.

Jose Peseiro’s will battle the hosts, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea in the Group A of the competition for a place in the second round.

Nigeria will take on Equatorial Guinea in their first match of the competition on Sunday, January 14 at the Olympic Stadium in Ebimpe.