Girondins-Bordeaux of France winger, Samuel Kalu has brushed aside all personal accolades that are coming his way, following his stunning goal from distance that footballlive.ng recalls sealed a 4-0 win against Libya for the Super Eagles on Saturday in Uyo.
Although he admitted he was thrilled to score his first international goal for Nigeria, and in breathtaking fashion at that, Kalu stressed that the bigger piece of joy for him was that the Eagles won the match.
Analysts noted that Kalu was desperate to score against the Libyans, and his perseverance eventually paid off when he scored a brilliant curling effort from outside the box on the dot of full time.
In reaction to the lad’s performance, Eagles gaffer, Gernot Rohr said: ”Kalu did very well but sometimes he had a problem of integrating well into the team which is normal coming into a new team.
”He is playing better and better. He did very well. Playing in Nigeria for the first time in an important match like this he did well. I saw him play for Bordeaux and he’s was very good.
”There’s little more work for him to do in replacing Victor Moses. The door is still open for him to come back . If he’s fit, why not. Victor loves his fatherland that I know.”
On his part, heading into Tuesday’s second leg in Sfax, Tunisia, the vastly-improved attacker, who got an assist against Seychelles in the previous 3-0 away win during the second match of the AFCON 2019 qualifiers, said he is not a self-fish player.
Though he had been adduced by Nigerian fans as a youngster who wants to make waves for himself early, due to his ball holding antics in his two matches so far with the Eagles, Kalu said it might be due to his relative inexperience with the team.
Consequently, Kalu, who joined Bordeaux from KAA Gent of Belgium this past summer, said he will get better in each match he plays for Nigeria, at a point in which he says he would be able to decide better and quicker on when to pass to a teammate.
Kalu retorted: “I’m not selfish but the area of the pitch where I occupied was not level so I need to be sure of a pass or shot. When I got used to certain areas was close to when I scored.
“My career has been more about assist than scoring goals. The good thing is that we got all three points, which is more important than my personal performance.
“I am still learning and working real hard with the help of the coaches. Getting better is my aim and hard work is the surest way to go about it.”
