William Troost-Ekong has said the current Super Eagles team would only be validated if they qualify for the World Cup and also win the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The present crop of Super Eagles players are regarded as some of the finest from Africa who are doing well for their clubs.
At the last AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire the team went all the way to the final before losing 2-1 to hosts Cote d’Ivoire.
The team came close to qualifying for the 2022 Qatar World Cup but lost the ticket to Black Stars of Ghana.
In the ongoing qualifying campaign the Super Eagles are fourth on six points and only recorded their first win after defeating Rwanda 2-0 last Friday.
“We have players that are very ambitious and among private discussions we’ve had we touched on the meaning of being at the World Cup,” Troost-Ekong said in his presser on Monday.
“I have so much to say about this generation of players I think we have something very special here and we need to be validated by being at the World Cup and winning an AFCON.
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“We were very happy with our start but now we are very focused on the game tomorrow against Zimbabwe. As we’ve learnt over the years there’s no such thing as easy games in Africa qualifications, they (Zimababwe) are very motivated but I know that being here in Uyo is an advantage for us so we are preparing to continue the work we’ve been doing since last week but we have a very big job on our hands and everyone is taking it very serious.
“Like the coach said we are looking forward to the game tomorrow and rising to the occasion again and for us the only thing that will count for us is to win the game.”
The Al Kholood defender described Eric Chelle as a tactically sound coach who is motivated to succeed.
“I’ve worked with some very great coaches in the national team in the last 10 years now we have the right person who is just as ambitious as this group and I think he has the ideas tactically, the motivation and hunger like all of us Nigerians and that’s why we can say he is one of us now.”
The AFCON 2023 Most Valuable Player (MVP) dismissed talks on the Super Eagles relying on Victor Osimhen.
“Relying on one player is not the mentality of the team we try to make everyone feel very comfortable and we work hard together and when we do those kind of thing everyone has a job to add.”
He added that he and his teammates have the chance to correct all the mistakes made in previous qualifiers in this campaign starting with the game with Zimbabwe.
“We can only change what is ahead of us, we are on track that’s the most important thing, we are far from qualified we have three teams ahead of us who have done better than what we’ve done so far but we have a chance to change that tomorrow.
“We will see when we get to the end of the qualification where everything stands and like I said we can’t change what we did before, we learnt from that, the good and the bad and the focus is on the next five games starting with the game against Zimbabwe tomorrow.”
By James Agberebi in, Uyo
