Cyriel Dessers reflects on mixed emotions with Super Eagles

Photo Credit - The Super Eagles & Falcons Of Nigeria.

Nigeria forward Cyriel Dessers has revealed one thing that has continued to hurt him since making his senior debut for the Super Eagles five years ago.

The Rangers forward featured for the Super Eagles in a 1-1 friendly draw against Tunisia in October 2020, and since then, he has always played in friendly matches and never in a competitive game.

“It hurts sometimes. It feels disappointing,” the forward said in an interview with ModZero Sports (via ESPN) as quoted by Complete Sports. “I’ve been in and around the squad for five years now, and I haven’t played an official game yet – just friendlies. I am going to say that hurts.”

Dessers, who scored his first international goal in a friendly against Algeria, continued: “There are always a lot of different factors,” he said. “You have a few strikers, for example Victor Osimhen, who is the clear number one, and it always depends on form, on choices, on personal opinion.

“But I would say the two AFCONS I missed out on really hurt because I felt like at that time with my form, I had a place in the squad. But it’s a big country, there’s a lot of competition, we have a lot of good strikers.

“I am not making the choices, the only thing I can do is perform, score my goals at my club, show that I am ready and when called up, show what I can do for the team and how I can help the team with goals and also with hard work and dedication.”

Dessers concluded: “I’m hoping to get a call-up in September, I will do everything to get a call-up in September and finally get the chance to play an official game, meet the fans and make one of my dreams come true.”

He was part of the Nigeria squad that participated in the Unity Cup tournament, and scored in the 2-1 win against Ghana. Nigeria lifted the trophy after beating Jamaica on penalties in the final following a 2-2 draw in regular time.