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By Johnny Edward
Nigerian striker, Brown Ideye, has played down the chances of the Super Eagles winning the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which holds from Saturday to February 11 in Ivory Coast and would be beamed live in Nigeria by StarTimes, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Ideye, who starred for the Eagles on their way to lifting a third AFCON title at the 2013 edition in South Africa, stated that the current squad lacked the hunger and discipline to win a fourth trophy in Ivory Coast.
The Eagles, who are drawn in Group A, will begin their campaign on Sunday against Equatorial Guinea.
They will also face hosts Ivory Coast on January 22, before battling Guinea-Bissau four days later in their final group game.
Speaking during an X space interview monitored by our correspondent, Ideye said, “We have good players but don’t have a team to win the AFCON now.
“I don’t see them winning the tournament. We don’t have disciplined players and this current set of players lack the hunger to win for Nigeria.
“We are not ready to win. They may go on to win it but my opinion is that I don’t think we can win it.”
The former West Bromwich Albion and Dynamo Kiev striker claimed that players in the team, who were born and raised abroad, were not passionate enough.
“They (players of overseas decent) don’t have the passion to play for Nigeria. I met some of them after we failed to qualify (for the 2022 World Cup) at the airport when I was returning to England,” he added.
“They left the country the following day after the defeat to Ghana. They didn’t care how they threw the country into sadness. The NFF must enforce discipline in the team.”