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Leicester City of England attacker, Kelechi Iheanacho and his namesake from UDS Huesca of Spain, Kelechi Nwakali are sharing enthusiastic talk ahead of Nigeria’s second match at the Africa Cup of Nations, with both lads predicting victory for the Super Eagles.
Megasportsarena.com reports that the two lads named Kelechi, who also share feats of winning the most valuable player awards of the 2013 and 2015 editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup respectively, are of a view that Sudan cannot spoil Nigeria’s surge on Saturday.
With the Eagles having defeated Egypt 1-0 in their first match of Group D at the ongoing AFCON in Cameroon, during which Nwakali replaced Iheanacho after 70 minutes, both enterprising players believes the winning mentality will aid Nigeria’s surge against Sudan.
That would mean an early ticket into the round of 16 and Nwakali, who is debuting at this year’s AFCON, after having played only two exhibition matches for the Eagles before now, says he is happy to be among the lads chasing history in Cameroon.
The product of Diamond Football Academy of Umuahia added that he was very pleased with his second half introduction during Nigeria’s opening game and played a role in helping them take a huge step towards the knockout stages by seeing off their most difficult rival in Group D.
That was thanks to Iheanacho’s left-footed strike in the 30th minute of play in Garoua and Nwakali, who had initially not been included in the Eagles’ provisional list submitted by the former head coach, Gernot Rohr, enthused that he is looking forward to more heroics.
While looking forward to tasting action against Sudan on Saturday, the former Arsenal of England, MVV Maastricht and VV Van Venlo of Netherlands as well as ex-FC Porto of Portugal midfielder, hinted that he wants to do better than he did against Egypt on Tuesday, when he replaced Iheanacho in the 80th minute.
Nwakali told EazyMediaTV: “We won the first game which is a very good start for the team, it builds the confidence, we won against Egypt that everybody is saying that it’s going to be a tough game.
“We saw how it went yesterday, we were able to get the three points which is more important to the team and then we move to the next stage.
“We approach the games the way they come. Against Sudan we’ll still respect the opponent and play our normal game. Hopefully we get the victory also.
“To have my debut for the Super Eagles is a starting point and I believe every Nigerian player wants this moment.”
A similar verdict was issued by Iheanacho, who was named man of the match for his efforts and goal that sank Egypt on Tuesday, as the former Columbus Crew of America and Manchester City of England lad concluded that the Eagles will fire on all cylinders from the first whistle.
He hinted that the main gameplan would be to knock home every chance they get, pointing out that the Eagles will not let their chances go to waste in the game that is scheduled to hold at the imposing Roumdé Adjia Stadium, Garoua.
Iheanacho posited: “I feel great, I’m really buzzing getting the goal for my team. We missed some goals in the second half but hopefully next game we pick up the pieces and convert our chances.
“Our team is always a confident team, we have a very intelligent group of players, we are really vibrant and strong. We have been together for a while and we work together as a team.”
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