Super Eagles Of Nigeria Can Win World Cup Says Efe Ambrose

Efe Ambrose has already lifted a trophy with his country, having helped Nigeria win the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013. And the Celtic defender would dearly love to replicate that success at the World Cup in Brazil this summer.

Just 24 hours after helping Celtic to a 3-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, Ambrose was in Glasgow’s George Square to get a glimpse of the famous trophy that Nigeria and 31 other countries will compete for.

He told the official Celtic website: “My target now is to help my country do well at the World Cup. We have a talented group of players and I hope we can go a long way in the competition.


“Anything is possible at the World Cup. You need desire, heart and willpower and we have all three with Nigeria.

“We want to make an impact at this year´s tournament, and I think that a lot of the teams in the finals are capable of winning it.

“This is the first time I have seen the World Cup trophy and it´s amazing. It is really beautiful.”
And while at Rugby Park, Ambrose was partnered by Charlie Mulgrew in central defence, helping Celtic record another clean sheet, the Nigerian also paid tribute to his regular defensive partner, Virgil van Dijk.

“Playing alongside Virgil this season has been very good,” he said. “And after the World Cup, we need to focus on qualifying for the Champions League again.

“Of course, before the World Cup, I need to win the league with Celtic.”

Nigeria begin their World Cup tournament with a game against Iran on June 16, while they will also face Bosnia-Herzegovina and Argentina in the group stages.

And joining Efe Ambrose in Glasgow today (Saturday) was another Celt who will be taking part in the tournament.

Emilio Izaguirre helped Honduras reach the World Cup finals for the second consecutive time, and his country will face Switzerland, Ecuador and France.

“In the last group we played with the World Cup champions and the best European team – Spain,” said the Celtic full-back. “We also had Chile, who are one of the best teams in South America, and we have Switzerland again.

“It´s a tough group with some very good teams. It won´t be easy for us as Ecuador are a very good South American team and France and Switzerland are top European teams.

“It will be very hard but I will try my best for the country to get into the next round. France and Switzerland are favourites and then it’s Ecuador and Honduras but we will try our best to get to the next stage.”