Ideye warns Eagles against early title talks

Brown Ideye

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Former Nigeria striker Brown Ideye has urged the Super Eagles to avoid early talk of lifting the Africa Cup of Nations trophy at the 2025 finals, insisting that success will depend on focus, patience and a game-by-game approach, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Ideye said the players must resist the temptation to look beyond the group stage, despite Nigeria’s pedigree and recent strong showing on the continent. He stressed that concentrating on immediate challenges rather than long-term ambitions was vital for tournament football.

Speaking in an interview with Toyosi Afolayan, the 2006 NPFL winner explained that while it was natural for a big football nation to aim for the title, experience had taught him that results were earned through gradual progress.

“My advice to them is to take each game as it comes, step by step. We cannot be in the group stage and already be talking about winning the tournament,” Ideye said.

“Yes, you can have the mindset of saying, okay, we are going to this tournament to win it, that is fine.”

Drawing from Nigeria’s successful 2013 campaign, the former striker recalled how modest expectations helped the team build belief as the tournament progressed. He noted that public scepticism at the time became a unifying factor for the squad and eventually fuelled their title run.

“Our own mindset then was that we were going there to make our country proud because we saw the backlash from people not even giving us a chance. We were just going there to compete, and wherever it took us was fine. But from that Ivory Coast game, it was a mind changer. It changed our mentality and made us start looking in the direction of winning,” he added.

Nigeria have been drawn in Group C of AFCON 2025 alongside Tunisia, Tanzania and Uganda.

The Super Eagles will open their campaign against Tanzania on December 23 in Fès, before facing Tunisia four days later in what is expected to be the decisive fixture in the group.

Their final group match will be against Uganda on December 31.

As part of preparations for the tournament, the team are expected to camp in Egypt, with an unofficial friendly against the pharaohs scheduled for December 16.

Nigeria go into the competition as runners-up from the last edition, where they lost 2-1 to hosts Ivory Coast in the final, and will be seeking a fourth continental crown after previous triumphs in 1980, 1994 and 2013.

Reflecting on his own breakthrough at the 2013 finals, Ideye described the competition as the defining moment of his international career. He said personal drive and clarity of ambition played a major role in his performances during the tournament.

According to Ideye, he had already set his sights on playing in England before the finals and used the tournament as a platform to achieve that goal.

“I think it was the drive. As a football player, you have to have a target, you have to have a goal. During my time at Dynamo Kiev, I told my agents and myself that if I was leaving Dynamo Kiev, I was going to the Premier League,” he said.

He explained that Nigeria’s eventual title win, coupled with his consistent displays, opened the door to a move to West Bromwich Albion.

“That tournament put me there. It gave me the opportunity to get the West Brom deal, because without us winning that tournament and without my consistency throughout the competition, I do not think I would have been able to make that move,” Ideye said.

Nigeria won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after defeating Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final, having earlier knocked out Ivory Coast in the quarter finals and Mali in the semi finals.

Ideye, now 37, later joined West Bromwich Albion in July 2014 in a reported £10m deal, becoming the club’s record signing at the time.

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