Mikel’s presence will scare our opponents-Ighalo

Super Eagles forward Odion Jude Ighalo has shared his thoughts on his expectations at the Africa Cup of Nation which kicks off today with host city Egypt against Zimbabwe in Cairo International stadium.

Shanghai Greenland Shenhua star spoke in an interview on what to expect at the AFCON tournament saying that his team can win the trophy if hard work and believe is involved.

The 30-year old player hopes to have a successful tournament saying: “If anybody says the tournament is going to be easy, that’s a lie because it’s going to be tough, hot and difficult but I believe in the team we have because we have all that it takes to do well in the AFCON.”

He went ahead to applaud coach, Gernot Rohr and his team captain, Mikel Obi for their good job well done stating that: “Rohr is a good man, aside football, he’s a funny man and he’s a coach that always want to listen to your complains and keeps checking on someone, he’s a father figure, he also encourages the guys

“Mikel is our captain, he’s a good leader, it’s great to have him back, the motivation he brings to the team, him joining us now is a big plus to us because no team in Africa that wants to play Nigeria and you see Mikel is in the field, you’re going to get scared a bit because he’s done great for clubs and country, he’s a legend and he can play, still fresh and a good passer of the ball which every striker will like to have by his side, am really happy he’s back and hopefully we can achieve what we want to achieve together by God’s grace.”

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The 32nd tournament will then see Nigeria lock horns with their group B counterpart, Burundi tomorrow at the Alexandria stadium in Egypt.