Super Eagles defender William Paul Ekong has tasked his teammates to remain humble and stay focused despite their 1-0 win over the Pharaohs of Egypt in a friendly game played in Asaba on Tuesday.
Eighth second strike from Midtjylland of Denmark marksman, Paul Onuachu was enough to hand the Eagles a precious win over Javier Aguirre inspired Pharaohs of Egypt for the first time since 1990 AFCON which was hosted by Algeria but Ekong who skippered the Eagles in the absence of Ahmed Musa noted that their foes were under-strength in the friendly game.
He said it was important to celebrate the epoch-making victory as it will be good for their confidence ahead of the 2019 AFCON but that they must know that situations would be a lot more difficult in Egypt during the competition and that they must strive to improve their performance to be counted among the favourites.
“Egypt are the host of the 2019 AFCON and are also tough opposition. We just have to keep calm because it is just a friendly game and they tried some new players as well,” Ekong told the media.
“I think we played well today and we were a little lucky to score from the second touch of the game. It was a great test for us after the game with Seychelles because it wasn’t the best of the game for us played under a difficult condition as well.
“It is great to captain this great squad in the absence of Ahmed Musa.
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But before Musa, we had Mikel Obi. I am happy to stand-in and my injury is okay after some stitches from the medical team.”