Super Eagles goalkeeper, John Noble, in this interview with Ebenezer Bajela talks about the disappointment of the 2022 AFCON in Cameroon, his Eagles’ dream and more

You were part of the AFCON 2021 in Cameroon but didn’t get to play. Do you feel you deserve a starting place in the squad?

For me I believe in time and patience, I can’t really say I deserve a place in the team or not but if given the opportunity I am sure I would have done very well and put in every of my best but those that were given the opportunity did well and all I needed to do was to support them and cheer them to victory and wait for my own time.

I remain confident that my own time will come and when it comes I will be ready to give my best and I am sure I will do better.

Eagles crashed out in the round of 16 to Tunisia, how devastating was the defeat having been tagged the favourites?

Personally, I felt very bad because that was my first AFCON outing and I really wanted to get to the final and have a feel of it to know what it is like but unfortunately we didn’t get to the final and that actually made me feel very bad. It was an experience we just had to let go and forge ahead and hope for the best.

We just hope that as the team continue these AFCON qualifiers, they will scale through and ensure that we qualify so that we can make the country proud.

We heard that there was a division among the team after the defeat, how true is this?

I honestly don’t know about that, the only thing I know was that after the defeat everyone was angry and this is something that is normal in a team especially when a lot is expected from you and it hurt that we didn’t move to the next stage because we really wanted to win the tournament. We were all angry but I know nothing about any division of sorts in the team.

What was the mood like in the camp before the players headed back to their clubs?

When you want something and you didn’t get it, it is normal that you feel bad and that was exactly the mood in the camp because we were all sad. We really wanted to win but it didn’t happen and the mood wasn’t good at all but at a point, we just had to let it go and see what we can improve on and we hope that this time around we will qualify for the AFCON and make it to the final.

There are reports that you’ve been told by officials that you won’t be invited to the Eagles because of your insistence to be paid your allowance. How true is this?

Well, I am not the coach and the Nigeria Football Federation has never for once sent me a mail or letter that I will not be invited again to the national team because of any issue. The coach invites those he feels he needs at the moment probably based on current form because the truth is they cannot invite everybody at the same time.

I just hope everyone that gets the opportunity make good use of it because it is about the success of the country and not just personal interest.

You are yet to make an appearance for the Eagles. How does this make you feel?

I will not say I feel bad and as I mentioned earlier I will continue to work hard and be patient and believe in God that the day will come. When it comes it will be up to me to make good use of it. The truth is you cannot just wake up one day and say you want to mount the post for the Super Eagles, it is not done that way because there are people there before me and I will just be waiting for my time because the dream of playing for the Eagles is not over.

Source: Punch.ng