By FRANCIS XAVIER Francis@newsabahtimes.com.my
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah new signing Prince Tochukwu Nnake has vowed to give his utmost best in helping his new side have a good season in the Premier League challenge 2016.
The lanky Nigerian striker declared he is ready to play his part, and he promises not to seek personal glory, insisting that what is far more important is for the team to do well and win matches.
“Every striker wants to score a lot of goals but if I am not in a good position to score, I would rather pass the ball for others to score because the goals are for the team and the feeling will be the same.
“The team’s glory is more important than a striker’s joy of scoring goals. I believe it is more important that the team emblem is lifted than the player’s name behind the goal…the name of Sabah is more important than Nnake,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after netting a hat-trick in their 5-0 win over the state Under-19 side in a friendly tie at the Likas Stadium here on Wednesday, the 26-year-old Nnake also rated his teammates equally, insisting that everyone of them has a role to play for the team.
“I think everyone and everybody is special. Everybody got defending talent, everybody got defending skills and all these skills put together is what makes the team.
“Marco (Tulio Lopes) is really good in control of the midfield, Igor (Cerina) is excellent at the backline while Dedi (Kusnandar) is a very strong guy in the middle of the park, which is really important, and also Maxsius (Musa) who has an amazing speed…everybody in the team is important, without one person the team wouldn’t start so we need everybody in the team, and everybody is special,” Nnake said.
Nnake also said he has started to love life here in the state.
“I have been here for about two weeks now. It’s new to me but it’s a nice place. I have been playing professional football for a long time so, I have always been travelling around.
“I’ve been to so many countries, my last team was in Egypt. I played in Belgium before and Switzerland. So it’s normal, but the people here are nice, they speak English so I have no problem in language.
I’m getting used to the food, but the environment is same like my country in Nigeria. Everything (here) is going well, I work here and I feel comfortable, but this is life.
On the team, he said: “To be honest, the team are a nice team … we are not the best but we have a chance to be the best because we are united, everybody is like family, we talk to ourselves and we fight and we don’t make problems and it’s a good team when we are at the dressing room, when we are in … everybody plays together … nobody knows who comes from Nigeria … who comes from Brazil … who comes from Croatia, we are one big family, we are just Sabah
“This is good we fight like a family and it’s good for the team,” he said.
He went on to reveal that he nearly became a Kelantan player this season but eventually things did not turn out as he expected.
“It was going well with Kelantan at that time. I played for them in a friendly match against Selangor UiTM FC (at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium) and scored three goals.
“There were close to 30,000 supporters at the match and they all made me feel like a king. But it’s true that ‘anything can happen in football’. There are many factors that can determine whether a player stays with a team or not.
“There was some misunderstanding between the manager and the team and in the end I had to go,” he said. Nnake said he is glad that he eventually landed here and is donning Sabah colours.
