Former Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh has warned that the Nigeria national team must not become one that cannot function in the absence of talismanic striker Victor Osimhen, Footynaija.com reports.
Osimhen was sidelined by injury for the Super Eagles’ first four World Cup qualifying games and in his absence, the three-time African champions failed to record a single win, posting three draws and one defeat.
However, his return inspired a late surge in Group C as he produced six goals in five games to help the Super Eagles salvage what had been a pretty disappointing qualification campaign by securing a play-offs spot.
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Nigeria will now lock horns with Gabon in a play-offs semi-final set to take place in Morocco next month and Oliseh has advised the Super Eagles to avoid putting all of their hopes on Osimhen’s availability.
What Sunday Oliseh said
“To start with, play-offs are not like other kinds of games; it’s a one-off game,” the former Ajax Amsterdam star said on a podcast titled Penalty spot with TOYO.
“So that means you don’t go into a play-off trying to be the one who scores the most. Instead, you go into play-offs trying to be the team that concedes the least. This means it’s one game after the other.
“These are the games where we score one or two goals and close the door. Our priority now should be consolidating our defence line because now we’re playing like the FA Cup, one game after another.
“Since Osimhen is extremely important for us, we cannot afford as a nation to build our World Cup campaign and say if one player isn’t there, we won’t go ahead. Osimhen scored one goal in the last AFCON, and we got to the final.
“So, we have to find a solution to this, and because we don’t want the players to listen to this and hear that an Osimhen injury means their chances of qualification are gone. They should also believe in themselves, and that’s from a nationalistic point of view.”
Victor Osimhen is “our own general”
Despite his warning though, Oliseh still admitted Osimhen is perhaps Nigeria’s most important player at the moment and the Super Eagles are definitely better off with the masked hitman fit and firing.
“However, to be realistic, if Osimhen gets injured, we are in trouble. That’s what I can say now, because we are playing against Gabon in the first game.
“Gabon is coming at Nigeria with one of the most experienced and talented, and sometimes underrated players in the history of Africa. I’m speaking of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. We need our own general [Osimhen] to be in that game as well.
“At the moment, say what you like, Osimhen is the general of this Super Eagles team. So, we need him to be fit and not injured.”
