DESSERS OPENS UP...."It hurts not playing a competitive Game for Nigeria"

[Enugu II]

'It hurts' - Belgium-eligible Rangers striker eager to play cap-tying game for Super Eagles
https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_n ... ?nid=55842
Published: May 30, 2025


'It hurts' - Belgium-eligible Rangers striker eager to play cap-tying game for Super Eagles
Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers has expressed his disappointment at not yet making a cap-tying appearance for Nigeria, despite being involved with the Super Eagles setup since 2020.

Dessers made his international debut in a friendly against Tunisia in October 2020 and has since featured seven times for Nigeria — all in non-competitive fixtures.

As a result, the Tongeren-born forward remains eligible to represent Belgium, his country of birth, although he has publicly pledged his commitment to the three-time African champions.

Despite scoring in a friendly against Mexico in May 2022, Dessers was left on the bench during back-to-back AFCON qualifiers the following month.

He has also been overlooked by successive national team coaches — from Gernot Rohr to Finidi George — in competitive match squads.

Dessers noted that Nigeria boasts a wealth of attacking talent, with promising strikers continually emerging.

"I don't like the word 'competition' because I think we all have the same goal here in the national team," Dessers told Modzero Sport in London.

"You see some extra strikers popped up again, Tolu (Arokodare) had an amazing season with Genk in Belgium, so there is always new talents coming up.

"For me personally, I've had a very good season, I am very happy with that. I got better this season, stronger, more experienced, more calm in the head so I hope I can show that and bring that to the national team as well."

Despite impressing with his work ethic during Super Eagles duty, he has consistently been overlooked for competitive matches.

"It hurts sometimes, you feel disappointed. I have been in and around the squad for five years now and I haven't played in an official game yet, only friendly games, so I must say that hurts.

"On the other hand, there's always a lot of different factors. Of course, you have a few strikers, like for example like Victor Osimhen, who is a clear number one.

"It always depends on form, on choices, on personal opinion but I would say the two Afcons I missed out really hurt because I felt at that moment with my form I had a place in the squad.

"It's a big country, there's a lot of competition, we have a lot of good strikers. Who am I? I'm not making the choices. The only thing I can do is perform, score my goals at my club and show that I'm ready."

Dessers trained with Belgium U21s in 2015 before a European Championship qualifier against Moldova.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

[Kneedeep]

At the least we should be giving this young man one of the "vibes" jerseys. He loves to play for Nigeria, likes the fans and everything that goes with it. You can't coach commitment. Well done to Mama Kolawole for doing a good job indoctrinating our pikin.
Yes we can field a full team of strikers, but apart from VO he is not struggling more than the EA sports strikers.

[Enugu II]

At the least we should be giving this young man one of the "vibes" jerseys. He loves to play for Nigeria, likes the fans and everything that goes with it. You can't coach commitment. Well done to Mama Kolawole for doing a good job indoctrinating our pikin.
Yes we can field a full team of strikers, but apart from VO he is not struggling more than the EA sports strikers.

who be EA Sports striker? Ol' boy take time oo!

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

Unfortunately, most Nigerian fans do not understand the game enough to know the value of Dressers and what he brings to the team. They view him as a straight 9 who’s only valuable if he can perform like Osihmen , they compare to Sadiq, Awoniyi, Moffi and other power strikers. He’s not like any other striker we have, he’s the only striker we have that actually offers a different way to attack. He’s fast, skillful and intelligent, perfect for change of tactical approach as he play behind the striker or in the pocket in a 433/4231.

[Lolly]

I feel for the lad. The coaches keep on inviting the likes of Sadiq, Iheanacho, Musa and others who have not delivered anything on the pitch in recent years. The boy has been consistently scoring for his club and has had decent performances for the SE in the games he has played except one game where he was missing chances. I like his game and have always wished we can give him a chance in competitive games.

I hope he starts against Russia.

[Babalawo]

He has Jamaica and Russia to do his thing. One more goal and he should be capped full time (shocked to know he hasn’t) and be made available for the upcoming games against SA and Lesotho.

[Damunk]

Genuine guy.
Maybe I’ve not been fair to the guy, but he admits himself that his position is highly competitive.
It’s def the single most competitive position in Africa, and one of the most competitive in the world.

[Kneedeep]

At the least we should be giving this young man one of the "vibes" jerseys. He loves to play for Nigeria, likes the fans and everything that goes with it. You can't coach commitment. Well done to Mama Kolawole for doing a good job indoctrinating our pikin.
Yes we can field a full team of strikers, but apart from VO he is not struggling more than the EA sports strikers.

who be EA Sports striker? Ol' boy take time oo!

Dem many. Fiendishly good on EA sports/club play, vanish when put in a SE jersey.

[Agbako]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

[Enugu II]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

Agbako

But na only dribble? The guy has positional sense and is quick. Yes, he misses a lot but I believe he is more beneficial to SE's offensive game than some of our hyped strikers. He is also likely to earn us set pieces.

[trae_z]

How old is Dessers, 30. He should stop getting his panties all up in a bunch. We're building for the future, he ain't all that too.

[Agbako]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

Agbako

But na only dribble? The guy has positional sense and is quick. Yes, he misses a lot but I believe he is more beneficial to SE's offensive game than some of our hyped strikers. He is also likely to earn us set pieces.

Prof.

Lets be real here. Yes I can beat my chest "na only Dibbling" If you are a forward and lack any dribbling skills you are limited. He can position himself all he wants. Look at one dribble move of Chukwueze coming alive in the box. Na goal come with am.. If I am coaching Chukwueze. I will task him to give me atleast 2 penalties per game minimum or he will never see the pitch.

Especially in this day and age football that if anyone breath on you in box its a penalty?

Its a known fact in football that good dribblers break any tight defense, especially when a team don do 100 passes still can not unlock a defense .

[gochino]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

Agbako

But na only dribble? The guy has positional sense and is quick. Yes, he misses a lot but I believe he is more beneficial to SE's offensive game than some of our hyped strikers. He is also likely to earn us set pieces.

Lookman does not play as a no 9, apart from Victor, all strikers combined have scored less than 5 goals in years! So why doesn't he deserve a chance? This explains why we wouldn't make the world cup for the second time in a row. We keep deceiving our selves that we have the best strikers in Africa but in reality we have one striker who has no competition, go look at the stats.

[Damunk]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

Agbako

But na only dribble? The guy has positional sense and is quick. Yes, he misses a lot but I believe he is more beneficial to SE's offensive game than some of our hyped strikers. He is also likely to earn us set pieces.

Lookman does not play as a no 9, apart from Victor, all strikers combined have scored less than 5 goals in years! So why doesn't he deserve a chance? This explains why we wouldn't make the world cup for the second time in a row. We keep deceiving our selves that we have the best strikers in Africa but in reality we have one striker who has no competition, go look at the stats.

You have a point.
But maybe the problem is too many striker options. “In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”.

The stats below suggest that firstly, no striker has really been able to secure a berth in the team other than Osimhen.
Secondly, there’s no single striker in the last 4 years that has been able to secure a striking partnership with Osimhen.

Boniface 12 caps in 2 years
Awoniyi 10 caps in 4 years
Sadiq 12 caps in 4 years
Moffi 18 caps in 4 years
Dessers 8 caps in 5 years

Osimhen 40 caps in 7 years

These stats are only suggestive of a pattern and there are probably many other factors behind them. They don’t for example differentiate between a 90th minute appearance and a full 90-minute appearance. For most of the players, it’s been stop-start runs in the team. Maybe if we had only one other option to Osimhen, more consistency might have given us better outcomes. Our frequent changes of coach definitely doesn’t help either.

Whatever the issue, we need to sort it out.

[Lolly]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

Agbako

But na only dribble? The guy has positional sense and is quick. Yes, he misses a lot but I believe he is more beneficial to SE's offensive game than some of our hyped strikers. He is also likely to earn us set pieces.

Lookman does not play as a no 9, apart from Victor, all strikers combined have scored less than 5 goals in years! So why doesn't he deserve a chance? This explains why we wouldn't make the world cup for the second time in a row. We keep deceiving our selves that we have the best strikers in Africa but in reality we have one striker who has no competition, go look at the stats.

You have a point.
But maybe the problem is too many striker options. “In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”.

The stats below suggest that firstly, no striker has really been able to secure a berth in the team other than Osimhen.
Secondly, there’s no single striker in the last 4 years that has been able to secure a striking partnership with Osimhen.

Boniface 12 caps in 2 years (1)
Awoniyi 10 caps in 4 years (2)
Sadiq 12 caps in 4 years (1)
Moffi 18 caps in 4 years (4)
Dessers 8 caps in 5 years (3)

Osimhen 40 caps in 7 years

These stats are only suggestive of a pattern and there are probably many other factors behind them. They don’t for example differentiate between a 90th minute appearance and a full 90-minute appearance. For most of the players, it’s been stop-start runs in the team. Maybe if we had only one other option to Osimhen, more consistency might have given us better outcomes. Our frequent changes of coach definitely doesn’t help either.

Whatever the issue, we need to sort it out.

Goals in brackets.

Personally, I strongly believe Awoniyi, Onuachu and Sadiq should not be getting invitations anymore. They have proven to be below average players in the GWG. Also, I would like to see Boniface and Moffi in friendlies, where they start. Dressers should be in the mix from now onwards. At least to deputise for Osimhen or when we need a second striker on the pitch.

[Bigpokey24]

At the least we should be giving this young man one of the "vibes" jerseys. He loves to play for Nigeria, likes the fans and everything that goes with it. You can't coach commitment. Well done to Mama Kolawole for doing a good job indoctrinating our pikin.
Yes we can field a full team of strikers, but apart from VO he is not struggling more than the EA sports strikers.

EA sports strikers, like that overrated Petrol dollar chaser Boniface

Recent the petrol dollars striker was seen on social media having a content session with some naija kid influencer abi social media poster peller....whereas his team mates were by Ghana and Jamaican

[Lolly]

At the least we should be giving this young man one of the "vibes" jerseys. He loves to play for Nigeria, likes the fans and everything that goes with it. You can't coach commitment. Well done to Mama Kolawole for doing a good job indoctrinating our pikin.
Yes we can field a full team of strikers, but apart from VO he is not struggling more than the EA sports strikers.

EA sports strikers, like that overrated Petrol dollar chaser Boniface

Recent the petrol dollars striker was seen on social media having a content session with some naija kid influencer abi social media poster peller....whereas his team mates were by Ghana and Jamaican

Boniface needs a firm and strict coach to talk some sense into his head. The boy is going to waste his talent if he doesn’t get help fast.

[airwolex]

At the least we should be giving this young man one of the "vibes" jerseys. He loves to play for Nigeria, likes the fans and everything that goes with it. You can't coach commitment. Well done to Mama Kolawole for doing a good job indoctrinating our pikin.
Yes we can field a full team of strikers, but apart from VO he is not struggling more than the EA sports strikers.

EA sports strikers, like that overrated Petrol dollar chaser Boniface

Recent the petrol dollars striker was seen on social media having a content session with some naija kid influencer abi social media poster peller....whereas his team mates were by Ghana and Jamaican

Boniface needs a firm and strict coach to talk some sense into his head. The boy is going to waste his talent if he doesn’t get help fast.

He ain't going to change that's his personality. Truth is we should just give others a try. At this point Dessers deserves a run.

[icee]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

Agbako

But na only dribble? The guy has positional sense and is quick. Yes, he misses a lot but I believe he is more beneficial to SE's offensive game than some of our hyped strikers. He is also likely to earn us set pieces.

I sought of agree with Agbako and Enugu. I'll be honest, Dressers finally won me over - how? He demonstrated over the course of what is now his 3rd game that he has v high football IQ - even in tight spaces and the final 3rd, he tries to place the best pass and he most importantly 'sees'. He doesn't need to dribble as much just look for the best pass or score. Now I cannot rely on him scoring - that is where my issue is...so at best he is support striker playing off the shoulder of a #9 and combining - or should be able to combine to good effect. His problem is...I see him as competing with lookman vs Arokodare. Arokodare brings something different but not better. Dressers will not start as long as lookman is fit..at best he will be on the bench deputizing lookman. That is his best shot

[packerland]

How old is Dessers, 30. He should stop getting his panties all up in a bunch. We're building for the future, he ain't all that too.

How are we building for the future when the likes of Musa and Nacho are still getting invites and some of our fans are ok with it?

[gochino]

Make una keep quiet abeg. Even with the 2 games he played this week. He has not shown me anything to depend on him as a striker to deliver goals for Super Eagles.

For me Chris. Uche & Arokodare looks more promising. Thats my own opinion. The so call striker that cant even dribble pass one player? Naija game currently has no Midfielders to carry ball come give you killer free goal pass you are use to in Europe.

This team need Strikers with power who can make something out of nothing.. PERIOD,,,,, ala Lukeman and Victor.

Agbako

But na only dribble? The guy has positional sense and is quick. Yes, he misses a lot but I believe he is more beneficial to SE's offensive game than some of our hyped strikers. He is also likely to earn us set pieces.

Lookman does not play as a no 9, apart from Victor, all strikers combined have scored less than 5 goals in years! So why doesn't he deserve a chance? This explains why we wouldn't make the world cup for the second time in a row. We keep deceiving our selves that we have the best strikers in Africa but in reality we have one striker who has no competition, go look at the stats.

You have a point.
But maybe the problem is too many striker options. “In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”.

The stats below suggest that firstly, no striker has really been able to secure a berth in the team other than Osimhen.
Secondly, there’s no single striker in the last 4 years that has been able to secure a striking partnership with Osimhen.

Boniface 12 caps in 2 years (1)
Awoniyi 10 caps in 4 years (2)
Sadiq 12 caps in 4 years (1)
Moffi 18 caps in 4 years (4)
Dessers 8 caps in 5 years (3)

Osimhen 40 caps in 7 years

These stats are only suggestive of a pattern and there are probably many other factors behind them. They don’t for example differentiate between a 90th minute appearance and a full 90-minute appearance. For most of the players, it’s been stop-start runs in the team. Maybe if we had only one other option to Osimhen, more consistency might have given us better outcomes. Our frequent changes of coach definitely doesn’t help either.

Whatever the issue, we need to sort it out.

Goals in brackets.

Personally, I strongly believe Awoniyi, Onuachu and Sadiq should not be getting invitations anymore. They have proven to be below average players in the GWG. Also, I would like to see Boniface and Moffi in friendlies, where they start. Dressers should be in the mix from now onwards. At least to deputise for Osimhen or when we need a second striker on the pitch.

I don't think Boniface has scored, he only managed an assist. Dessers and Osimehn have never been together in camp, it will be interesting to see two hustlers play together.

[Agbako]

How old is Dessers, 30. He should stop getting his panties all up in a bunch. We're building for the future, he ain't all that too.

How are we building for the future when the likes of Musa and Nacho are still getting invites and some of our fans are ok with it?

My broda its bound on Criminality to see these players faces in a team like da Super Eagles. With da plethora of talents we have spiling out all over the corners of the Globe. Its just the same..... in your face insult like the different fraudulent govts been install on us by the imperialists.

We need 2 powerful Offensive Midfielders... and they are inviting these useless players to do what really?

Its like we can go F ourselves they will do whatever they want. All we will do is cry in spaces like this... daaammmnnn painful.