Eric Chelle, the head coach of Nigeria, says he still has a lot of work to do as he gets ready for Zimbabwe’s 2026 World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday, March 25 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium.
After replacing interim coach Augustine Eguavoen on January 7, Chelle took over as permanent coach on March 21 and began his stint with a 2-0 victory over Rwanda in Kigali.
With their first victory in Group C, the Super Eagles revitalised their qualification campaign after a lacklustre start in which they only managed one point from their first four games.
Before losing to Benin 2-1, the West African powerhouses played to three straight draws against South Africa (1-1), Zimbabwe (0-0), and Lesotho (1-1).
Despite being happy with what he saw as a well-earned win over the Wasps, Chelle is sure that his team still has a lot of room for improvement.
The Warriors are still looking for their first victory after a 2-2 draw with the Cheetahs on March 20 left them three points behind Nigeria, who moved up to fourth position, and at the bottom of the group.
With a 0-0 tie against Rwanda at Butare and a 1-1 draw with the Super Eagles in the same city, Michael Nees’ team had gotten off to a respectable start.
Nees and his team were under more strain after the Southern Africans made a mistake in Johannesburg and lost to the Crocodiles 2-0.
“We need to be ready for the next game. I prefer to focus on my team rather than discussing weaknesses.
“My priority is analysing and improving our own play,
“I’m proud of my players – congratulations to them. But we have work to do.
“This was just the first game, and while I’m happy with the win, we must keep improving.
“We have a team with strengths and weaknesses, and my job is to shape the game plan accordingly.
,” I want my players to understand that we can play in different ways. Today (Friday), we used two or three different systems.
“We only had one week and two training sessions to prepare, but we shared a lot of information.
“We had a clear game plan and the players followed it perfectly. So, I believe this win was deserved.”