Stephen Keshi’s side just won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and will represent Africa at the Confederations Cup in June, and although excited about this competition, Ambrose says qualification for the World Cup is the ultimate prize.

 “It will be a big tournament too where we will fly Africa’s flag. I am looking forward to that too, but the World Cup is the main target for me. That is the biggest stage,” he told MTNfootball about the Confed Cup.

Ambrose then added: “That is the Brazil 2014 World Cup. We have qualifiers by next month and so I want to do my best and help Nigeria qualify for that.”

The Super Eagles are first in Group F of the African qualifiers, leading by just a point. They have four points, followed by Namibia, Malawi is on two and Ethiopia have just one. They face the latter next on March 22.

Ambrose said: “We have qualifiers by next month and so I want to do my best and help Nigeria qualify for that.”

He believes the attention the Ivory Coast and Ghana received during the AFCON took some of the pressure off them as few pundits tipped Nigeria for continental glory.

They beat Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final courtesy of a strike by Sunday Mba.

Ambrose continued: “Honestly, we were seen as underdogs before the competition started.

 “Many believed Cote d’Ivoire or Ghana will win the title and I believe that is one of the reasons why we are now champions of Africa.

 “You know we were not under pressure as people were not expecting us to win, that made us to be determined to write our name in gold, work harder and make Nigeria proud. I thank God he made it happen for us. We worked hard and believe in God.

 “I give God all the glory for giving me the strength to do well. It is not only me, but it happened due to the contributions of my teammates who did well on the field to make my job easier.

 “The coach too did a great job on me and the team. Above all, I thank all the fans and supporters who prayed for me and the team while the tournament lasted.”