Pinnick charged the players to believe in themselves and go for victory when he visited the team's camp at the Hotel Novella Star in Lome, Togo, while admonishing the players to remain focused in the task of representing Nigeria very well at the tournament.
"Nigerians don't want to know about tactics, just go, play and win the game. The mentality of Nigerians is winning, they don't care how you win, just win. Winning gives Nigerians a lot of joy," Pinnick said.
"It is a developmental football af this level. It does not mean that we do not want to win. Nigerians wants you to win so that you will be celebrated. We want you to be celebrated, it is very important that we must win. Just work hard and ensure we beat Ghana. The attitude we always display is that we can do it. That is the spirit under my leadership in the Nigeria Football Federation and that is what we expect from you.
"Your coach will tell you the technical and tactical way to achieve winning, but what I will tell you is that you are Nigerians and for you be a Nigerian, you must be positively rugged to achieve your dream," he said.