Former Super Eagles’ winger, Dimeji Muhammed Lawal has declared that Nigeria’s current squad will need the introduction of new players in order to win the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Sports247 reports.
With AFCON 2025 now less than a month away, and the Super Eagles scheduled to play Tanzania on December 23rd in their first match of the continental soccer showpiece, Lawal stressed that Nigeria’s preparations must start in earnest.
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However, the former Shooting Stars of Ibadan and Compostela of Spain wing wizard took another look at the current scenario and posited that the Eagles cannot return home with the trophy after the final in January 2026.
Dimeji opined, “I don’t see us winning it, and that’s the truth. If you look at the level that other African countries are now, what’s giving us confidence that we’ll just go there and win it?
“Before we can be talking of winning AFCON, we must put things right, and that is the truth.”
The Canada 1987 FIFA U17 World Cup revelation then provided some steps that he believes should be taken in order to give the Eagles a chance of staging a commendable outing at the upcoming competition, tops of which is early preparation.
“(The way forward is) not this free brigade approach. We must start the preparation now. Let’s get to the root of all problems in the team.
“Let’s bring in new legs, get people who can do the job. It doesn’t have to be the same faces all the time.
“We must also be honest in our selections from now on … not where agents or managers are involved in influencing the coach’s decisions.”
Lawal concluded with an emphatic charge for a thorough approach towards correcting all issues affecting the Eagles and affirmed: “We must look into all those things if we want to win this coming AFCON.”
