Super Eagles defender William Troost-Ekong insists the side must remain focused on the next task after edging out the Bafana Bafana of South Africa to reach the semifinals of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, Completesports.com.
Troost-Ekong who plays for Italian club, Udinese scored the winning goal as the Super Eagles booked their passage into the semifinals courtesy of a 2-1 win against the Bafana Bafana at the Cairo International Stadium on Wednesday.
The result ensured that the Super Eagles continue their impressive record in the competition having made it to the last four 15 times in 18 appearances at the AFCON finals.
The winner of the Cote d’Ivoire versus Algeria quarterfinal clash will face the three-time champions in a semifinal clash on Sunday.
“It’s great to score the winning goal in an important competition like the Africa Cup Nations. I mean it doesn’t get better than this,” Troost-Ekong told Completesports.com
“We have the semifinal to look up now. After that, we can start talking about the final. It has to be one game at a time.
“The most important thing is for us to keep the spirit high and remain focused. ”
By Adeboye Amosu (pix: by Ganiyu Yusuf) in Cairo
3 Comments
Awesome game, nice end to end match. Soar super we are bringing it home!
I’d be more comfortable with Algeria. Cote d’Ivoire players are bone breakers.
Congratulations Super Eagles of Nigeria and Coach G.Rhor for job well done and wishing the team better results and victory in the semis and finals.
My observations going forward:
1. I wish to salute Etebo for his improvement in free kick taking, wish he should still bring out time in his personal training to perfect that skill, we, your fans, expect a goal from you in this area in the next match.
2. All our wingers/strikers (Musa, Chukwueze, Iwobi and Odion) should train personally to be proficient in using R2 to score goals anywhere (left or right) close to the box. Musa had about 3 clear opportunity to score using this special technique but could not muster it. Don’t give a striker like Mane such opportunity, you will find the ball inside your net in 2 seconds.
3. Players should train in the area of level shot taking close to the box area.
4. G. Rhor kindly bring in Osimhen in 2nd half in place of Odion Ighalo in our next match. Osimhen has pace, skill (one on one situation), can score with his head, has fire shots, resilient finisher and a team player too.
5. Please give Uzoho another chance, he is good at saving one on one situation. See South Africa goal keeper. Pls after this AFCON kindly invite goal keeper Dele Alampusu to compete with others plssssss (He was the golden glove winner at the youth world cup for Nigeria). That talent and skill is still very imminent in him.
6. Pls Sir G.Rhor give Henry Onyekuru some playing minutes in this competition. Osimhen, Onyekuru and Uzoho shoud be introduced in our next match plsssss. Please our amiable ballers, even if Coach did not fixture you, don’t be discouraged because no one can stop the sun from rising, except God; your time will certainly come and you will shine like a million stars.
7. Kudos to Samuel Chukwueze for your European displays, you were coming to the midfield to pick balls yourself and pushing heavy counter attacks. God bless you bro. Remain humble, courageous and master your R2 skill, more accurate assists and sometimes try to win penalties for your team.
8. How can I not commend Iwobi the gunner, Ndidi Kante, Omeruo the rock (He has greatly improved), Ekong, Collins, Awaziem, Musa, Ighalo and all other Super Eagles. Congratulations Super eagles and best of luck!