Former Super Eagles Captain John Mikel Obi, remains upbeat that Nigeria has enough arsenal to execute and win the next edition of the AFCON npflupdates.com reports.
Mikel who was part of the triumphant Super Eagles team that won the 2013 edition of AFCON has revealed the difference between the title-winning side and the current crop of players in the national team.
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Mikel Obi talks about different style of football in present day Super Eagles
According to the former Chelsea midfielder, football pattern has changed over the years, and of course has a lot of difference in the type of tactics coaches exhibit.
“There is a lot of difference, isn’t it? Football has changed from ten years ago and dogmatically, it has really changed I think this group of players now are a very young team,” Mikel told CAF’s Media and was quoted by Allnigeria Nigeria.
“They play a total different brand of football, so let’s hope we can really see good performance by us, the Nigerian team.”
Meanwhile, since winning it’s third title in South Africa, Nigeria have failed to qualify for AFCON on two occasions in 2015 and 2017 respectively. And their best outing since then was a third-place finish in the 2019 edition of the tournament hosted in Egypt.
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However, the present crop of players will be hoping they can go all against odds and make history by winning the title for the fourth time.
In another report, Super Eagles forward Taiwo Awoniyi, has been ruled out of the next edition of AFCON as he is set to undergo a groin surgery.
“We’ll definitely see him again this season, but it’s groin surgery so it will take a little while,” Nottingham Forest’s manager Steve Cooper said.
“It’s bad news on Taiwo, he’s had to have surgery and he is going to be out for months,”
“We’ll support him and try to get him back as quick and as fit as he can be, but it’s a really unfortunate situation and a blow for him.
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“He’s become an important player for us with the goals he’s scored. He’s such a good guy and a good professional who is desperate to do well, so to get an injury like this is harsh on him.
“We’ve got to support him through the process of coming back stronger,” he concluded saying.