Nigeria’s Super Eagles will prefer to play their round of 16 fixture at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in the Moroccan city of Fes, according to team captain, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi, Sports247 reports.
While also pledging that the Super Eagles will give a New Year’s present to Nigerians by winning their next game at the competition, Ndidi stressed that they want to play their first knock-out fixture of AFCON 2025 in Fes.
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Correlatively, Ndidi affirmed that the Eagles must defeat Uganda in their last first round match on Tuesday, so that they will finish top of Group C and get the merit to continue playing in the imposing Complexe Sportif de Fès.
The three-time champions beat Tanzania 2-1 in their opening game in Fes, then whipped Tunisia 3-2 at the same venue on Saturday, with Ndidi stating afterwards that he was excited to finally score a goal for the Super Eagles.
Ndidi, who was first invited to the Eagles in October 2015, pointed out jocularly: “I was really excited. In fact, after 10 years, almost looking like 100 years to me, I felt happy to finally score for the Super Eagles.
“It was really amazing, and I am happy that we got the win; but we’re not going to relax. We’ve won two games, and we’ve still got another group fixture to play.”
The Besiktas of Turkey holding midfielder, who previously played for Nath Boys of Lagos, RKC Genk of Belgium and Leicester City of England, affirmed that all the Eagles’ players will enter Tuesday’s clash with an intention to beat Uganda.
Ndidi reiterated, “We cannot be carried away, because we still have to win in order to be first in the group. So, we have to stay focused on what we want to achieve.
“The most important thing is to win all our matches. So, we’ll go to the drawing board, try to see our mistakes, and then we’ll try to improve.”
He then spoke about the camp conditions in Fes, which, unlike Frank Onyeka and Calvin Bassey, who preferred to leave for another venue, Ndidi believes has been quite suitable for the Nigerian team in terms of the weather as well as love shown by the residents.
Ndidi disclosed, “The people in Fes are giving us high spirits, and they are really nice to us. It’s been really, really exciting being here.
“We’ll give our best to remain here after the next match. The weather is good, but the match against Tunisia was intense. So, it was normal for us to get tired.
“I’ll just say to our fans to keep on supporting this team. We are trying everything we can do to make the country proud and Nigerians happy.”
Ndidi, who marked his 29th birthday on December 16th, concluded with a yuletide message, as he projected with optimism: “We are going to try and give our fans a happy New Year present.”
