Ighalo: If I don’t score goals at World Cup, others will

Odion Ighalo, Super Eagles striker, says he is not under pressure to score goals at the World Cup.

The Changchun Yatai player said any member of the team can provide the goals, noting that the Eagles operate as a unit.

Ighalo said his main objective is to contribute to the team’s success in Russia.

“I am not under pressure because it’s a teamwork and it’s not just only strikers who can score goals,” he told TheCable.

“Sometimes, strikers can be marked out and space will be opened for other players to score goals.

“It’s a teamwork and we are working towards one goal. If a striker doesn’t score, we have other people in the team that can score goals.

“I just want to go on the pitch and give a 110 percent and try to score for the team but if I am not able to and we win, that’s all that matters.”

Ighalo said the team has bonded over the last two years, adding that it has paid dividends as the Super Eagles have achieved a lot.

“Because we’ve bonded well in the last two years or so, we support each other and that has been working well for us,” he said.

“There’s no way we are going to change that now.”

The former Watford striker refused to predict how far Nigeria will go at the World Cup, saying the players will take the games one at a time.

“I don’t want to start making predictions on how far we can go but we want to take it game by game,” he said.

“The focus is on the first game in Russia, after that we think about the second game then the third one because we don’t want to put pressure on ourselves by thinking about the semi-final or final when we have not even played the first game.

“So, we are thinking about the first game against Croatia for now.

“It’s football. Anything can happen in football. The same way people are talking about teams in our group, same way they are talking about us too.

“It’s going to be a difficult one, it’s going to be a tough one in the World Cup because it is the biggest stage, and it’s going to be difficult for everyone participating in it.”

The forward said he’s looking forward to featuring in the friendly game against England at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday.

“It’s a good feeling going back to play on the English soil, playing against familiar faces I played against while I was with Watford,” Ighalo said.

“It’s going to be a good one, it’s going to be a good challenge too with a team that has great players doing well in the Premier League, I think it’s going to be a good one for us.”