Nwabali Attributes Nigeria’s Success To Continuous Improvement In AFCON
Nigeria’s goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali has revealed the secret behind the Super Eagles’ growing strength in the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, crediting the team’s impressive performance to the collective effort of the players and their drive to improve.
The Super Eagles have been in scintillating form, winning all their group stage games to top their group and book a place in the round of 16.
They continued their impressive display in the last 16, thrashing Mozambique 4-0 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Algeria.
When asked what he believed was behind the team’s improved performance as the competition progressed, Nwabali attributed it to the great players in the team and their commitment to continuous improvement.
“We’ve been getting stronger as the tournament progresses because of the great players; many guys have been in this tournament,” Nwabali said when asked by SABC Sport.
“It’s a tournament that you try to improve; the best part of it is that we’re trying to improve because you can see in our games in the group stage, we didn’t have clean sheets, and we’re trying to improve on that.”
The Super Eagles’ 4-0 win over Mozambique marked their first clean sheet in the tournament, following a string of goals conceded in the group stage.
The Chippa United shot-stopper also credited all his teammates with their first clean sheet of the tournament.
“Kudos to these guys, they’re all world-class,” Nwabali added.
“They gave everything, scoring a lot of goals, being together, helping the team.
“I would say thank you to these guys for the clean sheet; they always help the country, and you can see we did very well.”
The quarterfinal match between Nigeria and Algeria is scheduled for Saturday at the Stade de Marrakech in Ouahat Sidi Brahim.
The Super Eagles will be looking to make a strong impression and progress to the semifinals of the tournament for the second time in a row, building on the momentum of their semifinal win against Bafana Bafana in the 2023 edition, where they ultimately fell short in the final against the host nation, the Ivory Coast.
