Dream team VII striker, Orji Okwonkwo, is optimistic that the team can pick one of the three tickets to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Football Tournament as the 2019 Total CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) gets kick off in Egypt on Friday.
Nigeria will tackle the young Ivorian Elephants on Saturday at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo, that’s after hosts Egypt and Mali are through with the opening match of the competition the Cairo International Stadium on Friday.
Orji however warned that good start against the Ivorians is key to the team’s success at the tournament.
“Of course, we are ready and as you know, it is the desire of all the teams to win the tournament,”
“But there is no two ways about it, we have to do everything possible to ensure that we get the ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
“We know this is not going to be an easy competition and the most important thing is that we have to work very hard,” explained Okwonkwo who last month was awarded Montreal Impact’s Most Valuable Player of the Year.
“Football is a game of luck sometimes but we can be lucky only if we work very hard.”
Nigeria are drawn in Group B and will also face Zambia on November 12 and South Africa on November 15 in other group matches.
“We have to be very confident going into the competition and personally, I’m happy to have been selected by the coaches ,” the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup winner said. “I’ll do my best to ensure we get a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
COMMENTS