Kwara United’s President Federation Cup title-winning captain Kabir Mohammed has expressed his hopes of getting called up to the home-based Super Eagles for this year’s African Nations Championship (CHAN) and also receiving offers from clubs outside Nigeria. Mohammed led Kwara United to a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout win over Abakaliki FC in the Cup final, securing the club’s first-ever President Federation Cup title.
In an exclusive interview with (link unavailable), Mohammed said, “The list for CHAN will be out and I’m someone who always believes that miracle can happen anytime, so hopefully my name will be included.” He added, “If that happens, I will be very happy to represent my country, and also an offer comes outside the country so that I can go and earn better money to help myself and my family.”
The triumphant captain described the Cup win as his biggest feat so far as a player, saying, “I feel so excited because one of my biggest achievements in my senior professional career, so I’m happy about it.” Mohammed noted that they anticipated a tough contest against Abakaliki FC, but his team was well-prepared and managed to bounce back from an early setback in the penalty shootout.
When asked about how his team managed to bounce back from the early setback in the shootout, Mohammed said, “When we lost our first penalty, we told our teammate to forget about it, that we should just focus on the fact that they can also miss, and we believed in our goalkeeper. We encouraged him to help us because he was the only one that could help us in that situation, and everybody that went to play later had the confidence to score.”
Mohammed is confident that Kwara United will go far in next season’s CAF Confederation Cup, saying, “Normally Kwara United don’t go to the continent and go out in the first round, and we currently have the team, and I believe the management might bring in one or two players, and I believe we will go far.”
The captain also expressed his expectations for the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) next campaign, saying, “The league is a marathon, it’s different from FA Cup, but we will prepare as usual and keep motivating each other, and expect our fans to keep supporting us, and I believe we will play better than last season”.