17th October, 2012
Nigeria legend, Austin ‘Jay jay’ Okocha has voiced his sentiments following the Super Eagles’ qualification for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Okocha was at the UJ Esuene Stadium to cheer the Eagles to a 6-1 victory over Liberia’s Lone Star in the final round of qualifying for the 2013 Afcon.
The emphatic win which capped off a fine 8-3 aggregate success for Nigeria had Okocha beaming and he was quick to praise the boys for their “outstanding feat.”
“I want to commend the players for this outstanding feat for beating Liberia 6-1. I am very happy that we have made it to the Nations Cup. That was our main target and I am sure that every Nigerian is happy that we have qualified for the competition,” Okocha exclusively told supersport.com.
Okocha, a member of arguably Nigeria’s finest football side that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994, will however not set targets for the current side ahead of the 2013 Afcon.
“It would be unfair for me to set a target for the team because we have been struggling recently.
“We have taken a huge step (by qualifying for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations) in making sure we get to where we want to be,” he said.
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations will kick off on January 19 and Okocha believes the Nigeria team will have adequate time to complete preparations for the tournament.
“Three months is enough time for us to prepare for the competition. We will go there and try to do our best but like I said earlier, it would be unfair of me to set a target for the team,” he stated.
Okocha made his debut for Nigeria in 1993; scoring 14 goals in 73 international appearances.