SUPER Eagles striker, Taiwo Awoniyi says the team is targeting the trophy at the Africa Cup of Nation’s 2023 tournament coming up in January 2024 in Ivory Coast.
The Eagles disappointingly exited in the second round at the last edition in Cameroon in 2022, losing 1-0 to Tunisia after Alex Iwobi received a red card from the referee for a bad tackle.
Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Friday, Awoniyi said the team having achieved qualification for the next tournament, is determined to win it this time around.
“I think everyone in the squad is happy, the first stage is to qualify for the AFCON which we did already, then the next stage now is just to try everything possible to win the AFCON which is the target for the country.
“The last one was an experience, I was there and we are happy we are there again and of course, we want to go there and we want to win the trophy for sure,” Awoniyi, who also plays for English Premier League side, Nottingham Forest said.
He said it is not lost on him and his teammates that every country going to the AFCON is going to challenge for the trophy, but said the set of players in the Super Eagles right now are really hungry for success.
Two goals from Victor Osimhen and one from Kelechi Iheanacho helped the Super Eagles defeat Sierra Leone 3-2 to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on June 18, with one game to spare.
Awoniyi, who just finished his first season with Forest scoring some vital goals that helped to keep the team in the Premier League, admitted that things weren’t easy for him and the team at the beginning of the season.
He, however, said that what mattered the most was that at the end of the season, Forest kept its status in the English topflight which he added made the season a very successful one.
The former Liverpool player, who joined Forest from the German Bundesliga side, Union Berlin, last summer said the meeting he had with the coach Steve Cooper convinced him to join the Premier League side.
Probed on transfer rumours linking him with a move away from Forest, Awoniyi said he remains under contract with Forest for five years and that nothing has changed about that.
