“Africa should be talking about winning the World Cup” – AFCON-winning Super Eagles assistant coach urges African teams to step up

Morocco became the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup.

AFCON-winning Super Eagles assistant coach, Sylvanus Okpala has urged African National teams to bring the World Cup to the continent, Soccernet.ng reports.

Okpala, 62, won the African Cup of Nations title as a player with the Super Eagles in 1980 and was a part of Stephen Keshi’s coaching crew when Nigeria won the 2013 edition of the tournament in South Africa.

A midfielder in his playing days, Okpala scored five goals in 45 games for Nigeria and is popularly called “Quicksilver” amongst his peers.
The former Nacional player has applied for the vacant coaching position of the Nigeria men’s National team, citing himself as the best option.
“I’ve won the Nations Cup as a player, and I have won it as an assistant coach to Keshi, the record is there. It is not easy. It’s not by luck or mathematics, it’s by knowledge,” the former Nigerian midfielder told Punch.
Okpala revealed that the development of African football has gotten to the stage where countries from the continent should be vying to win the FIFA World Cup, using Morocco’s run in Qatar as a prime example.

“Getting to the semifinals of the World Cup is no longer news in Africa because Morocco got to the semifinals in the last World Cup. I think Africa should be talking about winning the World Cup. It is the same football; the difference is the mentality,” the former Maritimo man said in quotes revealed by Score Nigeria.

Okpala started his career in the Nigerian league with Enugu Rangers but believes the training that Nigerian players receive abroad is the same as their counterparts from other countries, therefore, the quality of their output should be similar.

“Our players are based abroad and most of them are playing against each other, either in the Italian league or so on, so they get the same training, so when we are going to the World Cup, we should be thinking about winning the World Cup,” He added.

The Super Eagles are still without a head coach despite having games against Ghana and Mali during this month’s International break.

Adefolahan Guerreiro

Adefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria. With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience. He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.

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