KUNLE OLUTAYO
ABIDJAN, Cote D’Ivoire – Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro hailed Victor Osimhen’s performance as “fantastic” in the victory against Cameroon that saw the Super Eagles progress to 2023 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on Saturday.
Forward Ademola Lookman scored both goals in the 2-0 win against the Indomitable Lions in Abidjan to set up a meeting with Angola in the next round.
Osimhen has only scored once in Nigeria’s four games but laid on the first goal against Cameroon.
“He didn’t score but he had a fantastic game. It is not easy to stop that guy,” Portuguese coach Peseiro said.
“He created the first goal. He is fantastic for our team.”
The 25-year-old Osimhen was leading scorer in Serie A last season as Napoli won their first title since 1990 and was named African Footballer of the Year in December.
“Ask the opposition defenders how much they suffered,” Peseiro said of the striker’s pressing of the Cameroon defence, which allowed Osimhen to win the ball back before squaring for Lookman’s opener.
“Nobody can win a match alone, everybody has to play, but he is a good example.”
Nigeria haven’t conceded since they drew their opening match of the tournament 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea. Indeed, Cameroon failed to register a shot on target in the last-16 encounter.
The five-man defence deployed by Peseiro has come in for great praise but midfielder Alex Iwobi says a lot of the credit has to go to the work-rate of the forward line of Osimhen, Lookman and Moses Simon.
“This formation is suiting us,” he told BBC Sport Africa. “We’ve been able to defend, it’s not just the defenders but the people up front when you have Victor, Moses and Ademola working as hard as they do it helps the team.”
The Fulham star, formerly with Arsenal and Everton, also echoed the feelings of Oshimen entering the match that the team are going onto the pitch like “brothers” going to war for Nigeria.
“It was more than a football match, it was almost like a war on the pitch, so to come out on top is a special feeling,” Iwobi added.
Atalanta forward Lookman was awarded the player of the match award for his brace of goals with his team-mates warmly sharing in the celebrations.
“We’ve got a good team spirit – that’s what it comes down to,” Nigeria’s Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina told BBC Sport Africa.
“A lot of people say different things about us but we know what we are doing in the camp.”
Aina admitted he only found out on the day that Nigeria had lost the 1984 final to Cameroon in the same stadium and added: “It’s an old rivalry, so we needed to get one back.”
