Coach Eric Sekou Chelle has acknowledged that it won’t be an easy task for the Super Eagles when they face the Warriors of Zimbabwe this evening in their 2026 World Cup qualifier Matchday 6 encounter at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.
The Franco-Malian coach began his tenure with a 2-0 victory over Rwanda in Kigali last Friday, marking the Super Eagles’ first win of the campaign after they had earned just three points from their opening four matches.
In previous outings, the Super Eagles recorded three successive draws against Lesotho (1-1), Zimbabwe (0-0), and South Africa (1-1) before suffering a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Benin.
Following the victory against Rwanda, Chelle stressed that the upcoming match against Zimbabwe would not be as straightforward.
“The second game (against Zimbabwe) now is the most important,” the 47-year-old Chelle told journalists at a press conference in Uyo. “I’m proud of my players, what they did in Rwanda was very difficult but they made the job so…”
“We worked yesterday (Sunday) and had a good training session, and we need to go again to the pitch to prepare for the game tomorrow,” he added.
Chelle further emphasised the challenges posed by Zimbabwe: “It (the match) will not be easy because Zimbabwe has a good team with good players and a good coach. This coach (Michael Nees) has a good game project, and we need to be focused in order to do the job tomorrow.”
Team captain William Troost-Ekong also spoke about the squad’s potential, asserting that the Super Eagles have the quality to turn things around. He added that Chelle’s objective is to ensure the team functions as a unit to achieve the desired results.
“We have a lot of intelligent players who play at the highest level. They are used to changing tactics with different coaches, so it’s just about adapting (with Chelle), and I think the coach said it before, we have a lot of quality in our team,” Troost-Ekong said.
“He doesn’t need to explain much about how we need to play football. Rather, it’s just about getting everybody to play in harmony and understanding. I think we saw that in the last game, but that is in the past, and we have to show that again in the next game (against Zimbabwe).”
