{"id":878347,"date":"2025-12-17T23:21:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/afcon-2025-prep-onuachu-speaks-after-egypt-loss-why-the-super-eagles-arent-worried\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T23:21:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:21:38","slug":"afcon-2025-prep-onuachu-speaks-after-egypt-loss-why-the-super-eagles-arent-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/afcon-2025-prep-onuachu-speaks-after-egypt-loss-why-the-super-eagles-arent-worried\/","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2025 prep: Onuachu speaks after Egypt loss \u2014 Why the Super Eagles aren\u2019t worried"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><img width=\"750\" height=\"422\" alt=\"Soccer AFCON 2025 prep: Onuachu speaks after Egypt loss \u2014 Why the Super Eagles aren\u2019t worried\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NS-Quote-Email-Soccernet-18-750x422.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NS-Quote-Email-Soccernet-18-750x422.jpg 750w, https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NS-Quote-Email-Soccernet-18-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NS-Quote-Email-Soccernet-18-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NS-Quote-Email-Soccernet-18-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NS-Quote-Email-Soccernet-18-1140x641.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NS-Quote-Email-Soccernet-18.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-expand=\"700\" ><\/p>\n<p>Paul Onuachu on Super Eagles defeat to Egypt. Copyright: Imago<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/tag\/trabzonspor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trabzonspor<\/a> forward Paul Onuachu has dismissed concerns following Nigeria\u2019s 2\u20131 friendly defeat to Egypt, Soccernet.ng reports.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old insists the Super Eagles remain confident as preparations continue for the <a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/12\/afcon-2025-dates-fixtures-group.html\">2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Nigeria fell behind to Mahmoud Saber before Chidozie Awaziem pulled the Super Eagles level just before half-time. Egypt, however, reclaimed the lead early in the second half through Mostafa Mohamed to end a nine-year winless run against the West African side.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Egypt take the lead against Nigeria 2-1. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MLKmtjM6fG\">pic.twitter.com\/MLKmtjM6fG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Leto Foot (@LetoFoot) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LetoFoot\/status\/2001011434747257328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">December 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Soccer \u201cI felt good in the game\u201d \u2014 Onuachu<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking after the match, the former Southampton forward stressed that confidence within the Super Eagles camp remains high.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI felt good playing against them, especially knowing that I had scored against Egypt in the past,\u201d Onuachu said. \u201cI had a good feeling during the game, and you could see that in my performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI played with a lot of confidence and focused on playing my game. Unfortunately, we lost and the goal didn\u2019t come this time, but I still felt good on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI think both the team and I had a good game,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_187470\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-187470\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/11\/imago1069564442-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Paul Onuachu during the Trendyol Turkish S\u00fcper Lig\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-187470\">Paul Onuachu during the Trendyol Turkish S\u00fcper Lig (Photo by ImagoxSeskimphoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\">Get Our Sports News First \u2013\u00a0<\/b><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VagMHLcA89MZvw0Btc21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VagMHLcA89MZvw0Btc21\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Join Our WhatsApp Channel Now!<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>The friendly was Nigeria\u2019s only scheduled warm-up ahead of AFCON 2025, with head coach Eric Chelle using the match to test new players and tactical options.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164269\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164269\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1039548470-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Nigeria Super Eagles star Paul Onuachu.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1703\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164269\">Nigeria Super Eagles star Paul Onuachu. Photo by IMAGO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite the defeat, there is little cause for alarm within the Super Eagles camp. The performance against Egypt showed Nigeria\u2019s ability to create chances and integrate new players under a fresh tactical setup.<\/p>\n<p>The focus remains on learning from the results and reinforcing confidence that the Super Eagles will be better prepared when it truly matters.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164268\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164268\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1039549468-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Nigeria Super Eagles stars\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1703\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164268\">Nigeria Super Eagles stars. Photo by IMAGO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Super Eagles currently have 27 players in camp, boosted by the arrival of Moses Simon, while Victor Osimhen is expected to join the squad as final preparations continue ahead of Nigeria\u2019s tournament opener against Tanzania on December 23.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img alt=\"<!-- Author Start -->Ayomide Oguntimehin<!-- Author End -->&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ayomide-Oguntimehin-pics-150&#215;150.jpg&#8221;  height=&#8221;80&#8243; width=&#8221;80&#8243;>\t\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/author\/ayomide-oguntimehin\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and Editor at Soccernet.ng. He has interviewed Super Eagles stars like William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, and Ademola Lookman, and is known for breaking major transfer stories.<\/p>\n<p>Ayomide has worked with Sports Brief, Naija News and served as Social Lead Editor at Legit.ng. He has also featured on Goal, TVC News, Sports Mole, and Milan News24. He holds a Master\u2019s degree and is currently pursuing a PhD. Follow Ayomide on X (formerly Twitter): @ayo_oguntimehin\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/12\/afcon-2025-onuachu-egypt-super-eagles.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Ayomide Oguntimehin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Paul Onuachu on Super Eagles defeat to Egypt. Copyright: Imago Trabzonspor forward Paul Onuachu has dismissed concerns following Nigeria\u2019s 2\u20131 friendly defeat to Egypt, Soccernet.ng reports.\u00a0 The 31-year-old insists the Super Eagles remain confident as preparations continue for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. Nigeria fell behind to Mahmoud Saber before Chidozie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":878348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95004,127195,2005],"tags":[95003,127194],"class_list":{"0":"post-878347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afcon","8":"category-onuachu","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-afcon","11":"tag-onuachu"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}