Sitting quietly in a corner of the departure hall at Kigali International Airport on Saturday morning, Super Eagles captain William Ekong exuded calm confidence. He minced no words in stating that Friday’s victory over Rwanda’s Amavubi was exactly the statement the Eagles needed as the World Cup race reached its halfway mark.

“It was important to make the statement that we did, and we’re all happy about it, as well as the manner in which we did it. Of course, we haven’t qualified yet, and there’s still a lot of work to do, but we’ve started the recovery in a good way, and we just have to keep working hard.

“I don’t want to dwell on the circumstances that led to the first four matches going the way they did. The good thing is that we can still recover and revive our campaign—and we have started that process.”

Ekong’s firm leadership, coupled with the energy of Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, and Moses Simon, was evident as the Eagles cruised to a 2-0 victory over hosts Rwanda at the Amahoro Stadium. The win rekindled memories of the formidable squad that impressed the continent and came within 23 minutes of lifting the Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire early last year.

As the chartered ValueJet Airline CRJ-900 aircraft touched down at Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo, at exactly 2pm on Saturday, Ekong told thenff.com that he would be rallying the troops ahead of Tuesday’s crucial Day 6 encounter against Zimbabwe’s Warriors.

“We read somewhere that the Zimbabweans are being motivated to come to Uyo and get a result. They should forget it. We are highly motivated by our ambition to play at the FIFA World Cup. Apart from myself, Alex (Iwobi), and perhaps a couple of others who were part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, this generation is hungry to compete at the highest level. We want to make Nigeria proud and, at the same time, do ourselves proud.”

Victor Osimhen, whose brace unsettled the Amavubi and disappointed the capacity crowd—including President Paul Kagame—declared at the Victor Attah Airport: “We are ready. The remaining matches are battles, and we must fight them with everything we have to secure victory.”

A win on Tuesday evening will take Nigeria to nine points and keep them firmly in contention for a World Cup ticket—especially if Benin Republic and South Africa cancel each other out at Abidjan’s Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny.