Villarreal of Spain forward and Nigeria's current most consistent scorer, Ikechukwu Uche, was on cloud nine moments after Nigeria's qualification for next year's Africa Cup of Nations holding in South Africa after a 6–1 humiliation of Liberia at the U. J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar last Saturday.
The light-skinned striker, who came off the bench to score Nigeria's fifth goal against thevisitors, said he and his teammates had everyreason to celebrate Nigeria's qualification for the football party in the Rainbow Nation earlynext year, but admitted that there were someloose bolts that needed to be screwed up if the Super Eagles must challenge for the title. "Yes, we're all happy.
We have every reason to be happy because the team has done well. We knew how important the match was to all Nigerians, so we came out to do well in the match and we are very happy." Asked if the Super Eagles had what it takes to lift the trophy at next year's Nations Cup in South Africa, the former Granada of Spain forward replied: "I think wecan always get better. At the moment, the team has done the most important thing, which is to qualify for the Nations Cup.
"It is now left for the coaches to watch the tapes of all our recent games and see where we did well and where we need to get better.That is their job and if they are able to correctone or two mistakes, the team would be okay." On how he has managed to score consistently in virtually all his appearances in the national team, the player said: "It has to do with hard work. However, the most important thing is the team.
"My main aim is to assist the team; if I'm able to score, fine. I play up front and I will always work hard to score. But the most important thing is for the team to win. Each time I get on the pitch, what goes on in my mind is to help the team and if I'm able to score, fine. But the team remains the most important thing." Uche revealed that he and his teammates would not have stopped scoring against the Liberian side if the match had continued, even after the comfortable 6–1 lead.
"The beauty of football is goals. The game is about scoring goals. If we had the opportunity to score more goals against the Liberians, we would have continued scoring. We are satisfied with the number of goals wescored, but we were ready to score more," he added.