Racing Genk of Belgium striker, Cyriel Dessers has taken his love for Nigeria to another level by predicting that the country’s national team, Super Eagles will one day play in the quarter finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although the Nigerian team failed to make it out of the group stage last time out at Russia 2018 and he is yet to cement his place in the squad, after getting a cameo role during an international friendly against Tunisia last October, Dessers is thinking big for the squad in green-and-white.
Consequently, the 26-year-old Dessers admitted he is eagerly looking forward to having a busy time with the Eagles in months to come, even as he stressed that they can make history reaching the quarter-finals at Qatar 2022, where he hopes to be part of Gernot Rohr’s squad.
Having made his debut for Nigeria in a 1-1 draw with Tunisia on October 13, but he has made a single appearance so far, Dessers hopes to lay claim for a rosy future ahead of him with the three-time African champions.
Though the Eagles have failed to go beyond the World Cup round of 16 on three occasions, when they lost to Italy, Denmark, and France in 1994, 1998 and 2014 respectively, Dessers stressed that the Nigerian squad can replicate the feats of Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana by reaching the last eight of the tournament in Qatar, with him being a part of the history-chasing squad.
Dessers, who is also a former Belgium under-21 international and has scored four goals in 13 appearances for Genk this season, told Voetbal Zone: “Hopefully we can provide a stunt in the coming years. A quarter-final at a World Cup should certainly be possible.
“There are more and more boys who receive European education, we can certainly play a significant role with that. Nowadays, a Nigerian attacker plays well in every top European competition. They can really make a difference in the coming years.”
