Dundalk FC midfielder, Hezekiah Okirikpo is excited over Olympic Eagles Victory over Tanzania at the Lekan Salami Stadium Ibadan as they get a step closer to the U-23 AFCON games in Morroco while also hailing fans massive turnout to support the team at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan.
The versatile player who was one of the invited foreign based players by coach Salisu Yusuf for the qualifiers against Tanzania didn’t feature in both legs watching from the bench as Nigeria won 2-0 yesterday to seal a 3-1 aggregate qualification.
In an exclusive interview with Sports247.ng after the game, Hezekiah talked up his adaptation,
“it’s been good, always learning to adapt to a new side of football is not so bad, coming to play in Nigeria and on surfaces I’m not used and a different side with physicality, all this adds to my games.”
“I’m excited and happy that we are through to the next round in a big game with big hopes, winning the game is very important.”
On choosing Nigeria ahead of Ireland, ” For me, Nigeria has a lot more to play for, AFCON and all other prestigious competitions, meeting Salah and the rest of African stars is a good feeling.”
“Moreso, fans in Africa are very passionate just like yesterday in our game against Tanzania, haven’t seen such as that anywhere in the world.”
“It was surreal when I got the invitation honestly. I spoke with my dad and my agent and everyone was happy for me. I just had to stay focused when the invitation came in.”
“The plan now is to go back and bring different aspects to my game that I have learnt here and see where it takes me from that,” he concluded.
