Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro has described Victor Osimhen’s performance in the victory against Cameroon as fantastic
The win means the Super Eagles progress to 2023 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on Saturday.
Forward Ademola Lookman scored both goals in the 2-0 win against the Indomitable Lions in Abidjan to set up a meeting with Angola in the next round.
Osimhen has only scored once in Nigeria’s four games but laid on the first goal against Cameroon.
“He didn’t score but he had a fantastic game. It is not easy to stop that guy,” Portuguese coach Peseiro said.
“He created the first goal. He is fantastic for our team.”
The 25-year-old Osimhen was leading scorer in Serie A last season as Napoli won their first title since 1990 and was named African Footballer of the Year in December.
“Ask the opposition defenders how much they suffered,” Peseiro said of the striker’s pressing of the Cameroon defence, which allowed Osimhen to win the ball back before squaring for Lookman’s opener.
“Nobody can win a match alone, everybody has to play, but he is a good example.”
Nigeria haven’t conceded since they drew their opening match of the tournament 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea. Indeed, Cameroon failed to register a shot on target in the last-16 encounter.
The five-man defence deployed by Peseiro has come in for great praise but midfielder Alex Iwobi says a lot of the credit has to go to the work-rate of the forward line of Osimhen, Lookman and Moses Simon.
Atalanta forward Lookman was awarded the player of the match award for his brace of goals with his team-mates warmly sharing in the celebrations.
The three-time champions may be without Stanley Nwabili for the Angola tie after the goalkeeper was stretchered off late on against Cameroon.
“It is impossible to evaluate immediately the situation. We need 24-48 hours before we know, but if he cannot recover we will play with another goalkeeper,” said Peseiro.
Angola topped their group before defeating south African neighbours Namibia 3-0 in their last-16 tie on Saturday.
