Super Eagles midfielder Tochukwu Nnadi has declared that the team is fully focused on retaining the Unity Cup title after booking a place in the final of the 2026 edition.
Nigeria secured their spot in the final following an impressive 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe at The Valley on Tuesday night. Femi Azeez scored both goals on his debut as Éric Chelle’s side delivered a composed display to continue their title defence.
The Super Eagles will now face Jamaica in Saturday’s final in London in a repeat of last year’s dramatic showdown, which Nigeria won 5-4 on penalties after a thrilling draw in regulation time.
Speaking after the victory over Zimbabwe, Tochukwu Nnadi made it clear that the players are determined to finish the tournament strongly before shifting attention to future international fixtures.
“We are here to win the Unity Cup. I wouldn’t say nothing about the Poland and Portugal game. First we get the job done here and then we’ll see what happen in Poland and in Portugal,” Nnadi told the Super Eagles media.
The Marseille midfielder also stressed that the current squad wants to build a winning mentality and compete for major honours with the national team in the coming years.
“But I think this time we have to win everything. So when the time comes we will fight. Last AFCON we had a great competition but in the end we didn’t win, so this time we have to fight and see if we can win the AFCON and hopefully win more trophies for the Nigerian national team.”
Nnadi also reflected on Nigeria’s performance against Zimbabwe and praised the team’s quick understanding despite limited preparation time before the competition.
Tochukwu Nnadi On Victory Over Zimbabwe
“It was a great game, I don’t know if I had a fantastic performance, but I think the team did quite good. We won 2-0, so we are happy and we’re waiting for the next game,” added the midfielder.
The youngster admitted that adapting quickly to a new group of players was not easy at first, especially with only a few training sessions before the semifinal clash.
“I think we had three training sessions. It’s difficult, but we try to understand each other as quick as we can because I think in high-level football it doesn’t matter where the guys are coming from, but we all just have to be a team and work together.
“So the first training was hard but I think second day, third day, we got to understand each other and you can see in the game we had a great connection and it ended well.”
Nigeria will now aim to defend the Unity Cup crown successfully when they take on Jamaica in what is expected to be another fiercely contested final between both nations.
