It’s a great honour to be back – Stanley Okoye

By Esther Egbe

D’Tigers returnee, Stanley Okoye says it feels good to be back in the team after being away since 2015. He said he is back on a mission to prove his worth and importance to the team.

Stanley told National Daily that his mission is to prove a point and show how important he is to the team.

“For me, it’s important personally to show how much I deserve it, how much I can help this team and how important I can be as a player.

“It feels good, it’s a great honour to be back. It’s been a few years since I played for this team. It feels good to see a lot of new faces.”

As a team, he said they have a lot to prove to their fans at home and show the African continent that Nigeria’s time is now.

“We have a lot to prove. I think we are a team that everybody wants to beat. In the last  couple of years, we have dominated Africa and it’s time for us to show that not only can we compete in Africa but also be one of the best teams in the world.”

“Ivory Coast is a great team, Central African Republic is a great team, Senegal is a great team but right now we are going to focus on Ivory Coast because that is the first game. But I think as long as we do our thing, work on our game plan, play our defence, play to our strength, I think we will be very successful in this tournament.”

Portland Trailblazers’ star, Al Farouq Aminu confirmed that camping and preparation has gone well so far and they are looking forward to a flawless qualifiers.

On whether the team can continue their six games unbeaten runs, Al Farouq said, “We will continue to do what we know how to do. We are going to make sure we put our best foot forward.”