Former Chelsea of England midfielder and Super Eagles captain, John Mikel Obi has predicted that Nigeria will win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, billed to start in Ivory Coast on January 13th.
Obi also tipped Napoli striker Victor Osimhen to finish as the tournament’s best player.
“Nigeria will win the 2023 AFCON and Victor Osimhen will win player of the tournament,” Mikel told CNN World Sport.
“He [Victor Osimhen] is on fire. For me, he looks a little bit like Didier Drogba; he scores goals, he holds up play—a strong, young, and energetic striker.
“When it comes to the striking department, I think right now we are blessed. We are blessed with a lot of players there. [Taiwo] Awoniyi is doing well for Nottingham Forest and also for the national team. We also have Victor Boniface of Bayer Leverkusen, who is doing really well. So we are quite blessed when it comes to striking force. But we just have to fix some little issues with the defence and goalkeeping. I think if we can be able to do that, we’ve got a very good chance.”
The Super Eagles camp in Abu Dhabi has increased to 19 with the arrival of Nwabili and Chukwueze.
The Super Eagles are drawn in Group A alongside the hosts, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, and Equatorial Guinea.
Nigeria will play its first game on the 14th of January against Equatorial Guinea.