elyte89:
Like Norway 🇳🇴 like Nigeria 🇳🇬

Thank you,if na naija na to dey curse NFF

yinkeys:

Benin couldn’t get a point from SA
I don’t see Rwanda doing that away from home

It was some of you guys that rated Benin, I never did. I don't rate any team coached by Rohr, so I never saw Benin as a threat to SA.

I count on Rwanda. They did it in their first fixture by defeating SA 2 nil and they can still at worst get a draw against SA due to the bad blood that exists between both nations recently.

opes:
Our remaining two away matches will be played in South Africa. Bafana Bafana fans will full the stadium to support Lesotho..Damn..difficult games ahead..

Will they give us a bigger crowd than we already had at the Amahoro stadium?

Joebie:
you people should stop drawing formations oh.

Sorry man
Just last one, kindly ensure Chelle see this..


Bring on Bafana Bafana

ChrisKels:


Will they give us a bigger crowd than we already had at the Amahoro stadium?

I was already afraid the crowd was going to intimidate our players but alas we came out victorious. If the south Africans come out, the Nigerians there too will come out. No long talk

1️⃣5️⃣ clean sheets for Arthur Chukwuezugo Okonkwo with Wrexham FC in EFL League One so far this season.

The former Arsenal shot-stopper (23) is eligible to play for his father's land after switching allegiance last year.

F0110W Super Eagles Media Hub for latest sports news

ChrisKels:


If true, it is just an effort in futility. Such special talents are well positioned to feature for those European nations, that is why I never see them as prospects for Nigeria. I never saw Saka, Madueke, Omorodion, Musiala etc as Nigerians because I knew we stood no chance.

We can only get those good players that are struggling such as Lookman or those not rated when young, such as Bassey.

At this moment, instead of wasting time with the likes of Nwaneri and Atubolu, tryout struggling ones like Iroegbu of Everton, Ugochukwu of Soton, and Chelsea's Chukwuemeka.

There are other players on his radar.
The other players you listed are amongst the players he intends to convince to switch allegiance.
Nwaneri na England project.

It’s a hot, humid Sunday in Abuja and Eric Sekou Chelle is relaxed in a chocolate-coloured t-shirt over sports shorts and wearing a pair of red canvas shoes.

Eric Chelle cuts a sharply contrasting picture from the post-match press conference for a 2026 World Cup qualifier during which Zimbabwe delivered a late sucker punch for “my guys” Super Eagles to be pegged back in front of a jammed Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.

He was sweating and struggling to put together the few English words he could to make sense to the horde of reporters asking why a lapse in concentration back in defence let in the Warriors to deal a late blow and salvage a 1-1 draw.

He was as deeply pained as a die-hard Super Eagles fan would because within minutes Nigeria tumbled from second place on nine points to fourth position with seven points and now six points behind leaders South Africa.

“What do you think of the two matches against Rwanda and Zimbabwe,” he pointedly asked me as he took his seat by the hotel swimming pool side.

“The team did what was needed in Rwanda, they got the goals and managed the second half well,” I replied.

“Against Zimbabwe, all the talk is about that late equaliser and why you brought in a striker instead of a defender to manage the closing moments of this clash.”

“I believe I have brought more intensity and aggression to the team,” says the coach, who refers to the players as “my guys”.

“We had 11 shots at goal, but what most people remember was the goal we let in.

“I told the boys they have done well and must remain confident that we can still qualify for the World Cup.”


Coach Eric Chelle with ‘my guys’ Super Eagles
The hotel security guard Emmauel walks down and pumps fists with the Super Eagles coach, who is very much at home here.


He tells me his favourite Nigerian food is masa either with the spicy pepper or with the soup, it’s a Northern Nigerian delicacy.

He also loves his Nigerian Jollof rice.

His house in Abuja has been rented, will soon be furnished for him to soon move in.

Did he inherit a bunch of indisciplined players, who like to break camp rules and curfew?

“No. May be because this was the first camp, but I met players who trained hard, are in their rooms when they should be and report for team meetings in good time,” he answers.

“Everything has gone very well contrary to what I was told before the camp opened.”

He also says he has gone about his work without any interference.

He will take a short break to reunite with his family in France and return to Nigeria to be part of the 2025 CHAN preparations.

He tells me he wishes to freshen the squad by bringing in some players who are eligible to play for Nigeria and could man some key positions in the team.

He shows me a long list of over 30 such players, from Lesley Ugochukwu to George Ilenikhena and Carney Chukwuemeka.

“There are lots of players who can still play for Nigeria. I will work with the NFF to make this possible,” he reveals.

He is equally looking forward with a lot of excitement to the June international break, when he will have the Super Eagles for probably the longest period this year.

The team will tackle Russia for the first time ever in friendly in Moscow at the end of May before they feature in an invitational tournament in England that also has arch-rivals Ghana and Jamaica.

It will be a chance to take a closer look at some players who were not part of his first two matches in charge of the team.

“I am here to work,” he maintains.

“It’s an obligation we win in South Africa, but the most important match for us right now is Rwanda in Uyo.”

Results permitting, this 47-year-old former defence hard man is here for the long haul.

Samm Audu

Daninya33:
1️⃣5️⃣ clean sheets for Arthur Chukwuezugo Okonkwo with Wrexham FC in EFL League One so far this season.

The former Arsenal shot-stopper (23) is eligible to play for his father's land after switching allegiance last year.

F0110W Super Eagles Media Hub for latest sports news

na this one dey hungry u now and once dem invite am now him flop na u go still tell us how Uzoho take better pass am 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

ChrisKels:


If true, it is just an effort in futility. Such special talents are well positioned to feature for those European nations, that is why I never see them as prospects for Nigeria. I never saw Saka, Madueke, Omorodion, Musiala etc as Nigerians because I knew we stood no chance.

We can only get those good players that are struggling such as Lookman or those not rated when young, such as Bassey.

At this moment, instead of wasting time with the likes of Nwaneri and Atubolu, tryout struggling ones like Iroegbu of Everton, Ugochukwu of Soton, and Chelsea's Chukwuemeka.

U just hit the nail on the head. Like I have previously advised the nff and our coach should get their eyes off Samu (porto and Spain), Atubolu (Freiburg and Germany) and Nwaneri (Arsenal and England) unless these players decides to play for us

It will be more productive to open talks with those likely to changes allegiance to us ASAP such as Uduokhai, Irogbunam, Chukwuemeka, Ugochukwu etc

elyte89:
Like Norway 🇳🇴 like Nigeria 🇳🇬

the keeper no happy self 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

joelsteron:


Sorry man
Just last one, kindly ensure Chelle see this..


Bring on Bafana Bafana

Nice one but I think Ndidi should seat deep while Onyedika should take his place in the setup.onyedika is got skill set and can shoot from out the box

Like this.

5-3-2 when defending and 3-1-4-2 when attacking. They cannot be defensively vulnerable using this kind of formation.

elyte89:


This is what u get when u sabotage me …😊😊😊

Sorry. It was the handiwork of majoribanks

Kog45:
When we dey talk Dem go talk say na IICC,Enugu Rangers abi na stationery stores stories we dey talk.

Muj,fact we are in for it but many are so emotional attached to this eagles,two APOTYs but finding it difficult to beat Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Benin.

It terrible. We know there are no minnows in football but pedigree also exists in football. If we struggle against minnows how can we stand against Brazil, England, Germany, France or Argentina?

Goke7:


Blame the media, ex players and the fans too, even where the Eagles have succeeded they keep downgrading their success, the Afcon 2013 winning team was dubbed a boring side and the coach called names, that team achieved what the 1994 team did including second round exit at the World Cup. This is why we keep finding it difficult to replicate such feat or even build more on it, the closest we have come again is getting to Afcon finals last year still we said it was a boring pattern of play and called the coach all sort of names. We need to stop living in denial and build on any success we achieve. We don’t have to like a coach before giving him his credit and due. Tangible Results must be criteria for defining true success and not entertaining football. The Moroccans didn’t get to the World Cup semis with entertaining football

How the Afcon team of Peseiro was tagged boring is a mystery to me. Bro go and watch our matches from the second round. My goodness. Quick, hot football.

We weren't scoring high but we played well and our defense was water tight. Abi na to score 4 and concede 3 be exciting football?

And then maybe we overestimate ourselves oo thinking this thing is easy. E no easy oo.

Okocha said that when they won Afcon in 94, they thought it'd be easy to win it again. Whosai, they didn't win it again.

elyte89:
*عيد مبارك!!!*

May Allah accept our fasting, grants us our heart desires, and makes us steadfast.

تقبل الله منا و منكم

Enjoy the rest of the day and the days that follow within the limit

Greetings from ur intending COACHEE OF SUPER EAGLES.

Amin. Meet me in Rio. It's urgent

Kog45:
The coaches lacks tactics.I remember Westerhoff used only Sunday Oliseh in the middle during WC instructing Siasia, Amunike and Finidi to support Oliseh if we are losing possession and it works.

I think we are arrogant believing we can override smaller countries using formations that we lack players to execute it,now am beginning to understand Peseiro style of play during Afcon,prior to Afcon he was finding it difficult to get results reason why he drew Zimbabwe and Lesotho....He realized he lacked possessive midfielders and only way out is to have 3 man defenders with 5 players in the middle supporting the attack and defence.

Thank God you are seeing the pragmatism of Peseiro. Even at that our play was lively, strong and vibrant. It wasn't boring at all. Our match with Cameroun was high Octane, Angola nko, hot hot. The match against South Africa was ballistic. Filled with tension. We played well.


Instead of building on that, we dismantled everything. This Chelle style of attack, attack, attack. Hmmmm like somebody said most coaches are deceived by our attack ooo. See how they struggled against minnows. A coach has to be pragmatic.

villagereporter:


Baba, as heavy as that statement was he couldn't prove that he was far more important than Osimhen against Zim as d attacker waltz through him, but is it right to say he was jealous, feeling inferior as Osimhen's name was on everybody lips after Rwanda match or he was just playing down Osimhen importance so dat other players won't be jealous?

You are giving Ekong's statement a wild spin. Go and watch the presser. Communication is more than mere words. I don't think he meant it in the way you have interpreted it.

Hanibal:
Watching Ola Aina bully brighton from right back yesterday makes me want to meet Chelle and punch him in the face.

Why the fvck will you have that player and then you decide to move him to left back
Shey na village people?
God abeg

That was his biggest mistake. I tell una

Tchinaidi:

Nice one but I think Ndidi should seat deep while Onyedika should take his place in the setup.onyedika is got skill set and can shoot from out the box

If Uche Christiantus will be available, i prefer him there

Bannedlargejr:
Honestly, we should had continued with peseiro 343 or 541 during the WCQ

By now we would have perfected it. We got the first glimpse of the suitability of this formation for our team when Rohr first deployed it in the friendly against Argentina. We came from 2 goals down to soundly defeat them 4-2. Instead of Rohr to continue with it, he chickened out and our Russia 2018 is best forgotten.

Peseiro started with other formations right into the first match of Afcon 2023 but we were leaking goals. The man became pragmatic, adopted the 5-3-2 and our team took to it like a duck to water. Defense was tight. Midfield was solid with Onyeka doing the heavy lifting. In attack Osimhen was pressing and Lookman was doing the damage.This was how we got to the finals and we'd have won it but for exhaustion.

After Afcon, Finidi decided to change the set up and reinvent the wheel. Everything fell apart. We collect woto woto.

The same thing will happen to Chelle. I don talk am unless he realizes that our attack is not the only thing about our football. We must be tight at the back.

BankyGee:

Not just the formation, we should have continued with Peseiro himself... The confidence and form was already evident in the team, changing coach scattered the whole AFCON form and morale.

We wanted fanciful rizz champagne football. Now fanciful football we no see, boring we no see. Just in sha Allah, Osimhen go score. That's our game now.

mekabuachi:
South Africa this south Africa that

Uba just dey give them publicity because what's all this😂
We couldn't beat south Africa in 120 minutes
Dem too couldn't beat us in 120 minutes
Player our second 11 in uyo last year.... No osihmen, ekong, aina, Moses Simon.... Still it ended draw

SA are very aware that we are there biggest threat even if SE had 2 points and SA had 15 points....
They won't still breath down till they qualified

Y'all rest with this SA building.. team cohesion blah blah blah
Dem no their mate
I only blame SE for letting these countries feel superior
Mtcheew 😂

You guys miss the point and I think it stems from arrogance. Like many have pointed out SA are no longer our whipping boys. Their team has grown in stature, chemistry and in triumph. They are the second ranked unbeaten team after Argentina (somebody fact check me oo)

But then it's not about SA. It's about our team. We usually disappoint. Look at a critical match like the one against Zimbabwe ending in defeat (me I consider that draw a defeat). How? Why?

Our team lets us down too much. I don't have confidence in them that they will win SA.

D'Law I you're allowing the fact that we got to the finals of last year's AFCON cloud your judgment as to the efficacy and suitability of that formation to the SE general play.

For all the it's defensive functionality the 3-5-2 formation has inherent flaws which our opponents exploited.

Rather than adopting a dogmatic approach to how the team should be set up I always prefer being flexible enough to choose a formation that will gift you the best chance of beating an opponent depending on their style and make up.

Using Chelle's example the approach adopted against Zimbabwe was ok but for whatever reason we were not clinical enough. Now the mistake Eric made not reading the situation to say you know what 1 goal will be fine let me lock up and maintain this lead.

Flip it to JP against CIV part 2 being ultra defensive facing a team with quality players to unlock your defensive was always going to be trouble. Iwobi himself said it that the Ivorians were clever to come up with a strategy that gave them extra numbers in midfield meaning Alex and Onyeka were busy curtailing the Ivorians cutting off our forwards. JP should have been flexible enough to alter the set up but he was too many scared to change something that worked most of the tournament.

Mujtahida:

Thank God you are seeing the pragmatism of Peseiro. Even at that our play was lively, strong and vibrant. It wasn't boring at all. Our match with Cameroun was high Octane, Angola nko, hot hot. The match against South Africa was ballistic. Filled with tension. We played well.


Instead of building on that, we dismantled everything. This Chelle style of attack, attack, attack. Hmmmm like somebody said most coaches are deceived by our attack ooo. See how they struggled against minnows. A coach has to be pragmatic.

Mujtahida:

By now we would have perfected it. We got the first glimpse of the suitability of this formation for our team when Rohr first deployed it in the friendly against Argentina. We came from 2 goals down to soundly defeat them 4-2. Instead of Rohr to continue with it, he chickened out and our Russia 2018 is best forgotten.

Peseiro started with other formations right into the first match of Afcon 2023 but we were leaking goals. The man became pragmatic, adopted the 5-3-2 and our team took to it like a duck to water. Defense was tight. Midfield was solid with Onyeka doing the heavy lifting. In attack Osimhen was pressing and Lookman was doing the damage.This was how we got to the finals and we'd have won it but for exhaustion.

After Afcon, Finidi decided to change the set up and reinvent the wheel. Everything fell apart. We collect woto woto.

The same thing will happen to Chelle. I don talk am unless he realizes that our attack is not the only thing about our football. We must be tight at the back.

This is why I never fancied his appointment but everyone got carried away with champagne football. The first half against Zimbabwe was not too tight we committed too many players forward but for poor Zimbabwe we should have conceded. It was our early goal in Rwanda by osihmen that deflated the Rwandans, osihmen tried an early blinder in uyo but the Zimbabwe keeper was alert. This team is not resilient enough and the coach needs to tweak his strategy if not we’ll continue to leak goals. We need robust players again in the mould of onazi or more players like Onyeka to hold down that middle, all these Nwaneri he’s pursuing in London is not the solution o!

Mujtahida:

How the Afcon team of Peseiro was tagged boring is a mystery to me. Bro go and watch our matches from the second round. My goodness. Quick, hot football.

We weren't scoring high but we played well and our defense was water tight. Abi na to score 4 and concede 3 be exciting football?

And then maybe we overestimate ourselves oo thinking this thing is easy. E no easy oo.

Okocha said that when they won Afcon in 94, they thought it'd be easy to win it again. Whosai, they didn't win it again.

No African team has gotten to the semifinals of Afcon more than the eagles which shows how exceptional we are and how difficult Afcon is. Even Egypt with all their fanciful play and number of Afcon trophies still Dey collect wotowoto. It takes big heart from coaches and players to win Afcon. It’s no tea party. Let CAF even throw invitations to one or two European teams make dem try their luck omo dem no go find am easy. I thought mikel was overestimating Afcon when he said it’s like winning the champions league now I know better.

chrisooblog:
D'Law I you're allowing the fact that we got to the finals of last year's AFCON cloud your judgment as to the efficacy and suitability of that formation to the SE general play.

For all the it's defensive functionality the 3-5-2 formation has inherent flaws which our opponents exploited.

Rather than adopting a dogmatic approach to how the team should be set up I always prefer being flexible enough to choose a formation that will gift you the best chance of beating an opponent depending on their style and make up.

Using Chelle's example the approach adopted against Zimbabwe was ok but for whatever reason we were not clinical enough. Now the mistake Eric made not reading the situation to say you know what 1 goal will be fine let me lock up and maintain this lead.

Flip it to JP against CIV part 2 being ultra defensive facing a team with quality players to unlock your defensive was always going to be trouble. Iwobi himself said it that the Ivorians were clever to come up with a strategy that gave them extra numbers in midfield meaning Alex and Onyeka were busy curtailing the Ivorians cutting off our forwards. JP should have been flexible enough to alter the set up but he was too many scared to change something that worked most of the tournament.

there's no formation that doesn't have it's own flaw, but as of now, the kind of defense we parade now needs that kind of formation to survive. If not for JP acknowledging and adapting to the formation at AFCON in the first place then maybe the SE won't have made it past the group stage. And consequently, you won't be talking about the final.

When we have the likes of Ramos and Rudiger then we can talk about playing without a formation that provides a more defensive cover. We were also lucky against the Zimbabweans as they also had some very clear cut chances that if were converted would have probably resulted to the SE getting worse than a draw in the game due to that defense.

Goke7:


No African team has gotten to the semifinals of Afcon more than the eagles which shows how exceptional we are and how difficult Afcon is. Even Egypt with all their fanciful play and number of Afcon trophies still Dey collect wotowoto. It takes big heart from coaches and players to win Afcon. It’s no tea party. Let CAF even throw invitations to one or two European teams make dem try their luck omo dem no go find am easy. I thought mikel was overestimating Afcon when he said it’s like winning the champions league now I know better.

CAF just needs to make it more glamorous. The last one was fantastic in terms of the buzz on social media thanks to naija people and our incurable loudness.

Moniter0:
Like this.

5-3-2 when defending and 3-1-4-2 when attacking. They cannot be defensively vulnerable using this kind of formation.

Eric chelle has to see this.This will no doubt solve the shaky defense of the team while allowing them to dangerously offensive.A monster of a team

chrisooblog:
D'Law I you're allowing the fact that we got to the finals of last year's AFCON cloud your judgment as to the efficacy and suitability of that formation to the SE general play.

For all the it's defensive functionality the 3-5-2 formation has inherent flaws which our opponents exploited.

Rather than adopting a dogmatic approach to how the team should be set up I always prefer being flexible enough to choose a formation that will gift you the best chance of beating an opponent depending on their style and make up.

Using Chelle's example the approach adopted against Zimbabwe was ok but for whatever reason we were not clinical enough. Now the mistake Eric made not reading the situation to say you know what 1 goal will be fine let me lock up and maintain this lead.

Flip it to JP against CIV part 2 being ultra defensive facing a team with quality players to unlock your defensive was always going to be trouble. Iwobi himself said it that the Ivorians were clever to come up with a strategy that gave them extra numbers in midfield meaning Alex and Onyeka were busy curtailing the Ivorians cutting off our forwards. JP should have been flexible enough to alter the set up but he was too many scared to change something that worked most of the tournament.

Beautiful post. I agree with all you said especially the bolded. But the essential point is that Peseiro was pragmatic to adopt a strategy that got us as far as the finals but like you pointed out, he too became stuck to the system and the personnel.

A coach must be flexible. Chelle should know when to tweak his formation and at this point I don't believe we have to play the same first eleven in every match. The guys who played against Rwanda were tired. We should have maybe started with Iwobi and Onyedika in midfield.

Do you know that Chelle invited only two wing forwards?

I hear what you say it's about the flexibility for me. Had we converted all our numerous chances against Equitorial Guinea last AFCON and beat them with a wide scoreline maybe JP would have stuck with that particular formation.

Yes player profile matters but I think against the lesser opposition we should be dominating with overwhelming attacking threat that by the time you hammer them 3-4 goals it wouldn't matter if they get the odd goal. Except for the madness that was the Sierra Leone game under Rohr

Nigeria against African opponents hardly concede more than 1-2 goals which to me is more of a attack than defense issue.

The Zimbabwe game yes the away team had their chances but we at least had about 5-6 chances on target. If we had a conversion rate of even just 50% it wouldn't have mattered if Zimbabwe got the odd goal.

Moniter0:
there's no formation that doesn't have it's own flaw, but as of now, the kind of defense we parade now needs that kind of formation to survive. If not for JP acknowledging and adapting to the formation at AFCON in the first place then maybe the SE won't have made it past the group stage. And consequently, you won't be talking about the final.

When we have the likes of Ramos and Rudiger then we can talk about playing without a formation that provides a more defensive cover. We were also lucky against the Zimbabweans as they also had some very clear cut chances that if were converted would have probably resulted to the SE getting worse than a draw in the game due to that defense.