AFCON: Iwobi Says Third-Place Finish Is a Great Achievement Given Quality of Teams

Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi has described Nigeria’s third-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations as a major achievement, particularly given the quality of the teams at the tournament.

Nigeria secured the bronze medal after defeating Tunisia 1-0 in the third-place playoff, with Odion Ighalo scoring the only goal of the match in the third minute.

The victory meant the Super Eagles had now finished third at the Africa Cup of Nations on eight occasions.

Iwobi said Nigeria’s relatively young squad could take pride in its performance in Egypt.

“It’s a great achievement considering the quality of the 24 teams, especially as our team is very young,” he said.

The Arsenal midfielder added that although the players were pleased with the bronze medal, they hoped to achieve even more at the next edition of the tournament.

“I am sure we are happy with this medal, but hopefully we can do better in the next AFCON,” Iwobi said.

He also thanked Nigerian supporters for backing the team throughout the competition.

“We thank all the Nigerian fans for their support and we always want to do them proud. May they continue to support us, as we will always do our best for them,” he added.

Asked about Nigeria’s most difficult match of the tournament, Iwobi said several games had been challenging, including encounters with Burundi, Guinea and Madagascar during the group stage.

However, he identified the semi-final defeat to Algeria as the toughest match because it ended Nigeria’s hopes of reaching the final.

“For me, it’s a hard one to say considering the quality even in the group stage against Guinea, Burundi and Madagascar,” he said.

“But the toughest one, I think, was against the team that knocked us out in the semi-finals, Algeria, because we weren’t able to win.”

Nigeria ended the tournament with the bronze medal after narrowly missing out on a place in the final.