Playing for Nigeria a great honour – Azeez

Championship Team of the Season member and Eagles debut record-breaker Femi Azeez talks about his Unity Cup triumph, his Premier League ambitions, what representing Nigeria means to him and more in this interview with PETER AKINBO Let’s talk about your debut. How did breaking that record feel? I didn’t even know it was a record or that no one had done it in this millennium until after the game. I didn’t know that, but it was exciting. I got the freedom from the coach to express myself, and I am happy I was able to get the goals. It’s a good feeling, and it’s an honour. I would say I felt proud more than anything. Can you talk us through those goals? I mean, I knew we were here to win the tournament and playing with (Terem) Moffi was very instinctive. Whenever he got the ball back to me, I just went for it and shot, and it went in. I didn’t think twice. I’ve never played in those roles before, but I really enjoyed playing with the lads and feel my way into the role, and the goals were just reward, I think. And did you feel any pressure before your debut? No, not at all. I didn’t feel that, just a lot of honour to represent the country. I was relaxed and lucky enough to get those goals. How did it feel winning the Unity Cup, especially with the impact you had? I am very happy we won the cup again, and we were all very happy. We played with unity, with freedom and expression, and I think we showed that we can get the job done. It’s really an honour for me to play for Nigeria. The Super Eagles made the final look easy with the 3-0 win. What was the secret? Unity and working hard. The manager said before the game that we needed to be aggressive and win every duel. I think we did that in that game. There were a few mistakes, but we made up for them with our hard work and our running, and you can see that we had a good game in that final. We won the cup, so we shouldn’t be too hard on our shortcomings for now, but we know we have room for improvement. Your first window, three goal contributions. What did playing for Nigeria mean to you? Honestly, it was amazing. The fans on social media, the ones who came to the games, every time we got the ball or we attacked, it was just deafening, and as players, we love that. I would say it is the absolute peak and amazing. It’s been good, we’ve had good games and meeting coach Eric Chelle as well, very good, a nice person and funny, a good manager. Related News We played a good game against Nigeria – Poland coach Ofili, Nathaniel lead Nigerian entries for Lone Star Grand Prix Adams lauds Eagles rebuild under Chelle Was it