African football legend Sunday Oliseh believes Nigeria’s failed bid to win the 2025 AFCON title was due to the repercussions of Victor Osimhen’s “verbal abuse” of teammate Ademola Lookman. Senegal won the competition.
He said this on his podcast while sharing his thoughts on the Super Eagles campaign at the just ended AFCON. Nigeria won bronze after beating Egypt in a penalty shootout.
The Super Eagles however, lost in a penalty shootout in the semifinals to Morocco but 1994 AFCON winner Oliseh believes Osimhen’s heated clash with Lookman in the Round of 16 stage hurt the team against Morocco.
Osimhen had a serious verbal spat with Lookman in Nigeria’s 4-0 win over Mozambique in the Round of 16 stage but the issue was downplayed by Lookman and captain Wilfred Ndidi as nothing but two individuals wanting to win badly. (Click highlighted text to read full story)
There is passion there in intensity but this is overboard pic.twitter.com/FpcDrOTuFh
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“We are confusing talent with license. Victor Osimhen is world class but talent is not a license to destroy team chemistry. Since that public outburst against Ademola Lookman…Lookman became a shadow of himself and we lost the bite.”
“When you publicly diminish your teammates, you break their spirit. You destroy the very confidence a team needs to survive a semifinal. Against a team as tactically sharp as Morocco, we needed our best players at 100%.”
“Statistically, Ademola Lookman was the most dangerous player in the tournament until that public verbal abuse broke his focus. You cannot expect a playmaker to perform miracles on the pitch when he has been demoralized by his own teammate. The conflict did its damage” Oliseh said.
