28th April, 2011
What is your assessment of the Youth Championship so far?
I’m satisfied with the tournament. We are doing well and I believe we will even do more by becoming a better team.
But it was a bad day when your team clashed with Cameroon in your group game?
That is football for you. A team would win, lose or draw. It is difficult to really say what happened to us that day.
As the new skipper of the team are you under more pressure for the Flying Eagles to succeed?
No, I’m not. What I know for certain is that our next games will be better than our previous outings.
Against Gambia in your final group game, you were tied at 0-0 by halftime, while Ghana were beating Cameroon 1-0 and at that point in time, Nigeria were losing out on qualification for the World Cup. Were you worried?
No, because a game is played for 90 minutes and not 45 minutes. I always believed that we would come back into the game, score goals and win the match.
You are not a prolific goal scorer and so how was it scoring with a superb free kick against Gambia?
I was very delighted. I dedicated the goal to my mother because she’s the one who has been taken good care of me and she is encouraging me in my career.
So far, which team at the AYC have impressed you most?
Cameroon. They are good team and really know what they want.
Are you therefore looking forward to clashing with them in the final to avenge your loss in the group phase?
Yes.
What will be the Flying Eagles’s target at the World Cup from July in Colombia?
We want to win the trophy. It will be the best way to make up for not winning the U-17 World Cup in Abuja two years ago.