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By Abiodun Adewale
Super Eagles vice-captain William Troost-Ekong insists the players have the right mentality of what winning the Africa Cup of Nations entails, despite starting their campaign at the 2023 AFCON with a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Despite the media hype of winning the tournament for the first time since 2013, Nigeria began their campaign on a wrong note at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan.
Victor Osimhen netted Nigeria’s equaliser against the Nzalang Nacional, who struck first through Iban Salvador.
The result puts Jose Peseiro’s men under pressure ahead of their second game against hosts Ivory Coast, who already lead Group A with three points after winning their opening game 2-0 against Guinea-Bissau.
After the 1-1 draw on Sunday, the attitude of the players towards winning a fourth AFCON title was questioned, but Troost-Ekong said they were not unaware of the task ahead.
“We’ve spoken about this so much, we have Kenneth (Omeruo) and (Ahmed) Musa who have won the AFCON with us and they told us exactly how that journey was. Some of the guys like myself, who were there in 2019, also explained exactly how it was to get to the semi-final and take the bronze,” Troost-Ekong said in the mixed zone.
“You know in football, it’s not always when you want something that you get it. The other teams too, you have to respect them as well.”
The defender also noted that the team had some positives to take from the stalemate.
“Thank you for the support. We are disappointed. We feel the same way as you guys. We wanted to win but I think we have to look at the positives that we created a lot of chances and on another day, we would have won this game, it would be motivating. If we didn’t have those chances, we would have had some problems.”
The Eagles second group game is Thursday against Ivory Coast, while they will face Guinea-Bissau in the final group game next Monday.
Nigeria are seeking a fourth AFCON title and have won the tournament in 1980, 1994 and 2014.