Nigeria captain William
Troost-Ekong says striker Victor Osimhen asked him to take what proved to be
the match-winning penalty in their Group A victory over Ivory Coast at the 2023
Africa Cup of Nations.
Osimhen, the African Footballer of the Year, was fouled early in
the second half to win the spot-kick and is the team's designated penalty
taker.
But the 25-year-old Napoli star, who was leading scorer in Serie
A last season, passed duties on to the centre-back - perhaps based on the
latter's successful penalty against Ghana in a 2022 World Cup
qualifier.
"Victor is our first choice he said he wanted me to take
it,"
"Of course I couldn't say no.
"We practice penalties and I took one against Ghana. Maybe
it was the moment of the game [but] I was feeling good.
"I would also have been happy for him to take it but I'm
sure he's going to score many more goals for us."
Osimhen had found the back of the net in Nigeria's opener, a 1-1 draw with Equatorial
Guinea which made it crucial for the Super Eagles to pick
up a positive result against the Afcon hosts in Abidjan on Thursday.
"For me I don't mind. I can take it and if I score or I
miss, it is part of the game," the striker said.
"But of course he took it and he scored it, and it shows
great leadership. The team winning is the most important thing."
"I enjoy moments like this, I enjoy the big games,"
Troost-Ekong added.
"Pressure is for people trying to think how they can feed
their family every day - not for us. We play football and we practice for
moments like this.
"We are very happy we came with a clear game plan, we knew
that we were going to play against a very good team - we also knew we could
outfight them.
"We have so much talent in this team. We looked like a real
team, we suffered together as well but in the end our talent showed."
The victory took Nigeria up to second in the
Group A table, leapfrogging Ivory Coast, and Jose Peseiro's side are now well
placed to progress to the last 16.
"I am overwhelmed. It is a big win for us, a statement
win," Osimhen added.
"We played a disappointing draw against Equatorial Guinea
and it was important to come out strong against a team like the
Ivorians."Big respect to the Ivorian team as they gave us a tough time but
I think we deserved this win more."
The West Africans will face Guinea Bissau, who have lost both
their games so far, in their final group stage match on Monday (17:00 GMT).
AC Milan forward Samuel Chukwueze believes the team have shown
everyone that the Super Eagles are serious about adding to their three
continental titles.
"We played with our hearts. This game shows we are ready to
fight for Afcon," he said.
"This group is complicated but the most important game now
is the last game.
"There is no small country in this Afcon and Guinea-Bissau
are good. We've played them twice in qualifying and we lost one.
"We need to win the last game to top the group and ensure
we qualify for the next round."
Nigeria's biggest dilemma coming into the tournament was in
goal, with regular keeper Francis Uzoho coming in for heavy criticism before
the tournament.
Stanley Nwabili has taken the number one jersey for the first
two games and the 27-year-old hopes the confidence that has been shown him can
transfer through to the rest the team.
"When the coach believes in you, you bring more confidence
with you into the team," he told our correspondent.
"I feel like I can do more to bring that confidence in to
the team. I don't feel like Nigeria has seen my top performance."
The Chippa United keeper was also quick to defend Uzoho.
"Francis is a good guy and I don't know why they talk about
him. It was unfair, to be honest. He deserved better," Nwabili said.
"It's our first time working together - he is good."
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