Super Eagles’ former midfield battler, Garba ‘Chindo’ Lawal has hailed what he referred to as a ‘strong bench’ that helped Nigeria at the recent Africa Cup of Nations, as substitutes played key roles during the team’s surge to bronze in Morocco.
Sports247 reports that, while reflecting on various factors that made the team excel in all their matches at AFCON 2025, Lawal reckoned that the bench played a key role in the Eagles’ succees.
The former Roda JC Kekrade of Netherlands left-footed star further pointed out that, since football is a team sport, all players who feature in a match, including those who step up from the bench, have various roles to play towards achieving victory.
Lawal expatiated, “Football is not tennis. Everybody has to contribute his own quota – including those who come in from the bench. It’s a team sport, and I regard it as a game of 13 players.
“That’s because, apart from the starting 11, other players must come in from the bench. That’s why I say all of them who played at this AFCON were fantastic, and they did their best.”
The versatile all-action former player, who was part of Nigeria’s gold medal-winning team at Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games, went on to praise the AFCON 2025 Eagles’ squad for their high-level of unity, cooperation and ability to play like a team.
“I loved the unity and understanding that they showed among themselves in all their matches. That’s the right type of team spirit we need.
“That’s why I said it then that I appreciated every one of them … including those who played from the bench. They did their very best,” Lawal posited.
