Super Eagles legend John Mikel Obi is of the opinion that the three-time African champions will win the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) tournament npflupdates.com reports.
Mikel was part of the Super Eagles squad that won Nigeria’s third AFCON title a decade ago in South Africa.
Also read: Super Eagles : I Will Be Disappointed If I Don’t Make 2023 AFCON Squad – Defender
According to the former Chelsea man, the current Super Eagles setup has enough arsenals the execute the 2023 AFCON tournament. Also, he highlighted how the role of Napoli marksman Victor Osimhen would help him win the tournament’s Most Valuable Player(MVP).
What Mikel Obi said about Super Eagles chances at the 2023 AFCON
“Nigeria will win the 2023 AFCON and Victor Osimhen will win player of the tournament,” Mikel said in an interview with CNN World Sport, and was quoted by Daily Post Nigeria.
“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.”
The former Middlesbrough midfielder who had Emmanuel Emenike as the Super Eagles center-forward at the AFCON in 2013, confessed the current team is blessed with good strikers.
“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. 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,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mikel was also very quick to dissociate himself from the Super Eagles coaching job when teased about becoming the national team’s next coach.
According to the former Trabzonspor playmaker, he’d love a more diplomatic role than become the head coach who can get a sack letter anytime.
“Not definitely, I will love to one day but I don’t want to be a manager. I don’t want to be sacked. I hate getting sacked,” Mikel said jokingly.
“I don’t think I can handle that really well, but in some capacity, I will love to be involved again with the national team. I want to be somebody who will try to fix the problem from the top,” he continued.
