Brighton center-back, Leon Balogun has revealed that Super Eagles will not underrate the quality of teams in their Afcon group.
Nigeria has been paired with Burundi, Madagascar, and Guinea in Group B and they are set for their clash against the Swallows at the Alexandria Stadium on Saturday.
Leon Balogun said no country will be underestimated.
His words, “Some people will look at our group and think it will be easy, but there are no such games at tournaments like this one,” Balogun told his club’ website.
“Sometimes when you play teams who people consider to be underdogs you have your hardest matches – you only have to look at someone likes ourselves at Brighton to see how much you can put the bigger teams under pressure and give them a tough time.
“Once we get through the group stage you can start thinking in this way, but for us, the next game is always the hardest one and that’s the mentality we’ll have to have for the tournament.”
“It’s a big occasion for the whole of Nigeria. We haven’t been part of the last two and after winning the trophy [in 2013] there’s also been a bit of disappointment at that,” he continued.
“It’s far different to something like a World Cup. Nigeria have always been one of the most successful African nations – to have not been part of the last two tournaments was tough.
“We’ll be one of the sides that people think will go close to winning it, and certainly inside the dressing room, there’ll be a lot of the team who’ll want to lift the trophy. that’s the reason you go to tournaments like this, but there’s a lot of competition.”
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