Former Ivory Coast International, Salomon Kalou, has said that only his country can stop Nigeria from winning the 2025 African Cup of Nations, AFCON.
The former Chelsea forward said this after Super Eagles goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, expressed confidence in Nigeria’s chances of winning the trophy.
Ivory Coast beat Nigeria 2-1 in the 2023 AFCON final in Abidjan and Nwabali said the Super Eagles are motivated to deliver a better result this time around.
Reacting to Nwabali’s comments on SuperSports, Kalou said the Super Eagles can only win the trophy if they avoid facing Ivory Coast.
He said, “For Nigeria to win, maybe they need to avoid Ivory Coast.”
Speaking further on Ivory Coast’s victory in 2023, he added, “It is a great feeling to win especially when you win at home, in front of your people, the whole stadium, I think no feeling can beat that.
“You can ask any player that played at the high level, winning for your country is something different. It doesn’t touch close to winning for your club in Europe.”
Nigeria will play Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania in the Group C of the tournament.