Will He Rise against Cameroon?

Victor Osimhen

With just a goal in 270 minutes in the group stage of the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, Victor Osimhen has failed to justify the high credentials he brought to the competition. The Napoli striker came to the biennial tourney as last season’s Serie A top scorer with 30 goals, Italian best player of the season, AFCON qualifier top scorer with 10 goals and more interestingly, African Footballer of the Year Award winner. The Super Eagles hot shot has however not justified any of these achivements and has even gone on to miss begging chances in Nigeria’s first three matches. With the three-time African champions set to battle their perennial rival, Cameroon, in the round of 16 of the championship, the big question is whether the former Lille goal poacher will finally light-up the tourney with goals

After scoring 10 goals in the qualifiers of the 2023 AFCON, and with the Super Eagles lined up in a group that has Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau and a struggling Cote d’Ivoire side, watchers of the game were hoping that at the end of the group stages of the competition, Victor Osimhen would be in line as one of the strikers to cart away the tournament’s golden boot.

After three matches, the Nigerian striker has just scored a solitary goal in Nigeria’s first match of the tournament against Equatorial Guinea, a match the Napoli forward was wasteful, and that was his lot in Super Eagles other two group matches.

Osimhen’s wastefulness in front of goal was so obvious that former Democratic Republic of Congo captain, Gabriel Zukuani said he could have had a hat-trick against Guinea-Bissau in Super Eagles last group game.

Zakuani however played down Super Eagles’ goalscoring woes amidst fast-growing concern among fans and pundits alike.

Nigeria finished as runner-up in Group A with seven points but could only score three goals despite creating a good number of chances and their profligacy in front of the goal has raised concerns.

To corroborate Nigeria’s wastefulness in front of goal, a statistic from Whoscored published before the clash against Guinea-Bissau on Monday showed that they have missed seven clear-cut chances at AFCON.

The three-time African champions didn’t do anything to ease the worries about their wastefulness in front of goal against the Wild Dogs, with Osimhen and Moses Simon missing two big chances apiece.

Reacting to fans’ concern on BBC World Service after the game, Zakuani feels the Super Eagles will be fine despite not being clinical with the chances they have created so far at AFCON.

“I don’t think they should worry at all. I think Osimhen today could have had a hat- trick. A player of his quality, you expect him to put some of those chances away.

“The header away, I thought, he was 100 percent scoring it but what you worry about I know it sounds cliche but when a striker is not getting into those positions, that is when you worry about it.

“It would come, they should be happy that they are through and they have still got their main starman fit, they would be fine”.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro, also revealed his displeasure at Nigeria’s poor goal conversion rate at the 2023 AFCON.

Osimhen’s header against Equatorial Guinea is Nigeria’s only goal from open play, as the others came from the penalty spot against Cote d’Ivoire and an own-goal against Guinea-Bissau.

Despite his displeasure at the missed chances, Peseiro, however, remains confident that the Super Eagles will rediscover their scoring ways in the knockout stages.

“For the next match, we’re going to score,” Peseiro said.

“It is important for us to score goals, but it’s a difficult tournament. We deserve to reach the first position because against Equatorial Guinea, we created many chances, we didn’t score. Equatorial Guinea did not beat us, they draw us.”

Peseiro also assured Nigerian fans and supporters that Osimhen, will find the back of the net in their upcoming match against Cameroon.

Despite Nigeria attempting 41 shots in the group stage, they managed to score only three goals, leaving many Nigerian football enthusiasts puzzled about the team’s goal-scoring abilities leading up to the clash against Cameroon.

Peseiro expressed confidence that Osimhen would break the deadlock in the crucial last-16 match, while acknowledging that the former LOSC Lille star missed several scoring chances in the previous two games, Peseiro remains optimistic that the talismanic striker will bring joy to Nigerians in today’s fixture.

“For our next match, Osimhen will score; he’s important for the team. He’s the top scorer, but this is a different tournament and tough competition. He deserves to reach the top position because against Equatorial Guinea, he created so many chances and he scored. Did Equatorial Guinea beat us? No, we shared the point, and I know we will beat them next time because it’s not easy in this competition,” remarked Peseiro.

The Super Eagles star, having been named the Confederation of African Football Best Player for the year 2023, has yet to make a significant impact in this tournament. He will be looking to silence doubters when Nigeria takes on the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

Meanwhile, Osimhen has stated that the most important thing for him is to win the African Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles as against an impressive individual performance.

“I don’t feel any pressure at all, I do not care about this title (African Player of The Year) anymore. I have won it, it’s in the past,” Osimhen said in the video posted on X on Thursday.

The 25-year-old added that the most important thing was for the team to win the AFCON.

“I think the most important thing is to do well with the team, to make sure the team does well, as well as win the AFCON,” he said.

“For me, I don’t really care about my individual performance, I can be on the bench and the other players are getting the job done, so, the most important thing is to win and try to win the AFCON with this group. So, I’m ready to help.