Okocha lists what Super Eagles must do to excel at the 2023 AFCON

Former Nigeria National team captain, Austin Okocha has listed what the Super Eagles coaches must do to excel at the upcoming 2023 AFCON.

Nigeria will join Africa’s best for the 2023 Cup of Nations to be hosted in Ivory Coast.

The Super Eagles in their last-two games failed to defeat lowly rated Lesotho and Zimbabwe, thus losing the trust of many Nigerians ahead of the AFCON which begins in January 2024.

Okocha is optimistic the Super Eagles of Nigeria can still achieve success at the tournament, backed by a mindset of being one of the top footballing nations in Africa.

“I think we’ve got a good chance in the AFCON like every other top nation. I think whenever we are going to a big tournament, we go in with the mindset that we’ve got a chance to do well.” Okocha said on Live TV.

The legendary midfielder went on to discourage the dependence on strikers for goals, saying the Jose Peseiro led coach crew must endeavour to get a balance with the right players to represent Nigeria at the tournament.

“We should not always rely on our strikers [For goals], ” Okocha continued.

” We just need to get the balancing in the team because if the strikers don’t get the services that they need, they won’t do well.

” If the defenders don’t try to keep a clean sheet, we might not win a game.

” So that’s the task that is waiting for the coaches to make sure that they get the right balance and the right players to play for us at the AFCON.” Okocha added.

Nigeria has been drawn in group A alongside tournament hosts, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau.

The Nigeria national team has adopted a “Let’s do it again ” theme to march the quest for a 4th Africa Cup of Nations title.