INSIDE AFCON 2019: Nigeria Have Done Well – Iwobi Rates Nigeria’s Campaign and His Performance in Egypt(AUDIO)

CAIRO – Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi believes he has had an “okay” tournament so far and says despite missing out on a place in the final of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria’s “young team” can leave Egypt “with our heads held high”.

Speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday’s third-place match against Tunisia, Iwobi who is playing in the Nations Cup for the first time in his career said the team now needs to end their campaign on a winning note tomorrow.

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“I personally believe with such a young team, Nigeria, we’ve done well we’ve done our country proud; we’ve fought in every game and we go out with our heads held high,” the Arsenal of England midfielder said.

“But we still have one more game to go so like the coach said, it’s better to go off winning the game than to lose the game so hopefully we can do that.”

On his overall performance in Egypt, the 23-year-old who has played in all six games for Nigeria with a goal and assist to his name, declared himself satisfied with his performances so far. And going back over Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Algeria in the semi-finals, Iwobi said the team can be satisfied with their efforts despite the “unfortunate” loss.

And with such a young playing core, Iwobi said, Nigeria’s footballing future holds plenty of promise and predicted a better outing for the side in subsequent Nations Cup.

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“I believe for my first Africa Cup of Nations I’ve done okay, I’ve been to get a goal and an assist but it’s not finished hopefully I can get another goal,” he said.

“But for the team, we’ve done well. We’re young, the future is still bright I believe that we have a chance hopefully in the next Africa Cup of Nations to come, that we can go and do well again but for us, we can go out with our heads held high especially after the performance against Algeria. I believe that we did well, we were just unfortunate with the last kick.”