The combined reactions which have trailed the appointment of French-Malian, Eric Sekou Chelle, because the supervisor of the Nigerian nationwide soccer group, the Tremendous Eagles, are symptomatic of the profound curiosity of Nigerians within the fortune of the group; in addition to the nervousness gripping soccer followers over the group’s capability to qualify for the World Cup subsequent 12 months, and to carry out effectively within the forthcoming Africa Nations Cup.
The priority of pundits is whether or not or not Chelle is the fitting individual to information the Tremendous Eagles at this crucial time. Whereas it will likely be simple to align with any aspect of the talk, such alignment is not going to take away the elemental challenges dealing with the event of soccer in Nigeria; and for which there are not any simple options. The challenges nonetheless pose an actual impediment to the nation’s success in worldwide competitions.
Given the event and the sensible lack of time for Nigeria, it will appear that the pragmatic step is to rally assist for the brand new coach and create an enabling atmosphere for him to match his dedication with applicable motion. In any case, there was hardly a Tremendous Eagles coach that escaped scathing criticism previously; certainly, a few of them proved their critics flawed.
A combined bag of reactions was provoked because the Nigeria Soccer Federation (NFF) introduced Chelle, as Tremendous Eagles supervisor. Whereas some pundits, together with retired nationwide group stars, described the appointment as a slap on Nigerian soccer followers, who’ve seen such revered coaches as Otto Gloria, Father Tiko, Adegboye Onigbinde and the very profitable Clemence Westerhoff, some consider that given time and sufficient assist, the person, who took Mali to the quarterfinals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, will come good for Nigeria.
To the doubters, the NFF’s appointment of the Malian is a fake pas on condition that Nigeria is in a precarious situation within the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and subsequently wants a mature head to information it by the remaining video games of the qualifying sequence. Some really feel that given what the nation’s soccer has gone by lately, together with failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar, selecting a rookie, who’s, nevertheless, referenced in France as a wise man-manager and one of many rising stars of the occupation, will give the Tremendous Eagles a recent impetus to sort out the remaining video games which they have to win.
Notably, the NFF has insisted that the brand new supervisor has the ability to steer Nigeria to the World Cup forward of better-placed South Africa.
Curiously, the fiercest criticism of the brand new supervisor is coming from some ex-internationals, who’ve by no means supported any coach, together with their former colleagues like Finidi George, who was sacked after two poor outings towards South Africa and Benin Republic.
The problem is past Chelle not solely as a result of he’s what Nigeria has now but in addition as a result of the nation has been plagued with an array of disagreements and controversies which have disadvantaged the supervisor and the group of the wanted focus to excel. What ought to trouble soccer stakeholders is how to make sure that Chelle has the fitting situations to do his job efficiently.
The time for recriminations is over. The brand new supervisor wants each assist he can get within the battle to steer Nigeria again to the World Cup.With lower than six months to show his mettle, his place will probably be strengthened if he wins the 2 forthcoming video games in March.
It will likely be an aberration that Nigeria which has gained the African Footballer of the 12 months titles back-to-back by Victor Osimhen (2023) and Ademola Lookman (2024), didn’t qualify for yet one more World Cup.
The Shehu Gusau-led NFF has made many daring selections within the final 12 months, however selecting Chelle to steer the Tremendous Eagles is a big gamble, which the federation should again up with the required sources to tug off.
The Tremendous Eagles’ qualifying marketing campaign has had a rocky begin, with 1-1 attracts towards Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, adopted by a 2-1 defeat to the Republic of Benin. At present, Rwanda, South Africa, and Benin lead the group with seven factors every, whereas Lesotho has 5, and Nigeria path with three. Which means Nigeria should win all her six remaining video games to keep away from lacking the World Cup back-to-back.
The Tremendous Eagles will resume their World Cup qualifying marketing campaign in March with an away fixture towards Rwanda in Kigali, adopted by a house recreation towards Zimbabwe a number of days later.
Chelle is aware of the enormity of the duty earlier than him, however the coach, who will earn $50,000 month-to-month, appears assured that he’ll ship on the duty. At his unveiling to Nigerians final month, the Malian sounded optimistic that he would do the job effectively.
Acknowledging the vast criticism that dogged his appointment, Chelle promised to win over the opposition along with his group’s efficiency on the pitch. Aside from qualifying the nation for the World Cup, Chelle additionally pledged to deliver again the attacking soccer that the nation was as soon as famous for. These lofty desires can solely come true if Nigerians rally across the coach.
First, the NFF should make sure the situations are proper for the coach to thrive. This consists of making certain that the gamers arrive on time for preparations for each recreation. The nation’s poor efficiency within the qualifying sequence was because of the behavior of arriving for a recreation lower than 48 hours earlier than the match.
Once more, the NFF and the technical committee should give the coach a free hand to decide on gamers. The technical committee is predicted to advise the coach every time it deems needed and never attempt to impose gamers on the coach, a few of who contribute nothing to the group.
The brand new supervisor has his job lower out for him. He should deal with the poor health degree of Nigerian gamers invited for nationwide group responsibility and be certain that the gamers give as a lot to Nigeria as they do whereas enjoying for his or her golf equipment.
The Malian inherits a group quick on confidence and brevity within the midfield, with a number of the gamers clearly now not match for nationwide group responsibility. Being an African coach, who has labored with some African groups, ought to assist the coach as he tries to fly previous such opponents as South Africa, Rwanda, Lesotho, Benin Republic and Zimbabwe.
Nevertheless, the duty will grow to be simpler if he finds the assist he must do the magic Nigerians anticipate from their coach.
