Former youth international and ex-Super Eagles star Dimeji Lawal has proudly announced that Nigeria will be crowned champions of the Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Ivory Coast in January next year, News About Nigeria reports.
As the special guest of the former University of Ibadan Football Players Association virtual conference yesterday, Dimeji Lawal (known as Kabongo to many fans) announced that the Super Eagles have the talent to win the next Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast next January.
Also, former IICC shooting star Ibadan’s dazzling winger, who signed for Real Madrid before attending the 89th World Cup in Saudi Arabia, where the Flying Eagles lost to Portugal in the final, informed the Super Eagles coach to focus on building a strong team through collaboration and understanding.
According to Lawal, he was named man of the match when the Flying Eagles faced a Luis Figo-inspired team in the group stage of the 1989 Saudi U20 World Cup.
His words: “Nigeria will be the team to beat at the next CAF Nations Cup. I do not doubt that.
“We have the generation of young African talents doing so well in various European top clubs. Not only that, they are young and have the opportunity to play with and against the best legs week in and week out.
“Nigeria will be the team to beat at the next CAF Nations Cup. I do not doubt that.
“We have the generation of young African talents doing so well in various European top clubs. Not only that, they are young and have the opportunity to play with and against the best legs week in and week out.
“Notwithstanding the talent depth of the Super Eagles, this group of players have not won anything tangible for the country yet, except at their club sides. I am very sure that will be a big drive for them to cement their arrival as new boys on the block.”
The Nigerian national team is drawn in Group A with hosts Ivory Coast, which hosts fast-improving Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau, which has qualified for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) for the fourth consecutive year.
The matches, which will start on January 13 and end on February 11, will be played in six stadiums in five cities of Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast, seeking its third Nations Cup championship, will face Guinea-Bissau in the opening match in Abidjan on January 13, while Super Eagles, seeking its fourth championship, will face Guinea-Bissau in its first match of the tournament against Equatorial Guinea.
Nigeria last won the Nations Cup in South Africa in 2013, while Ivory Coast defeated the Eagles in Equatorial Guinea two years later.
