The Super Eagles’ disheartening 1-1 tie with the Warriors of Zimbabwe in Group C of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers has led head coach Eric Chelle to declare his support for his team and Nigerians.

Following their tie with Zimbabwe in Tuesday’s game in Uyo, the Super Eagles once again failed to win at home in the World Cup qualifying round.

On minute 74, Victor Osimhen headed home a cross from Ola Aina to give the Super Eagles a 1-0 lead.

However, Tawanda Chirewa gave Zimbabwe an equaliser in the 90th minute following shoddy Super Eagles defence.

Chelle’s team is currently six points behind leaders South Africa, who defeated Benin Republic 2-0 in Abidjan, in fourth place with seven points at the end of matchday six.

Rwanda is in second position with eight points, followed by Benin Republic in third place with eight points, Lesotho in fifth place with six points, and Zimbabwe in sixth place with four points.

“In the first half we had the chance to score 10 goals, Zimbabwe came to defend, my players were the best on the pitch with possession football and fast attack,” Chelle said in his post-match press conference.

“I’m so disappointed for my players for the country and the way things are now we have to start looking at second place, we deserve to win but this is football.

“I think in the last 10 minutes it was hard for us because we did well in the first half with a lot of intensity so maybe the players were a little tired.

“We tried to score a lot of goals, after our goal I told my players to try to score another goal but like I said maybe they were tired.

“We played a diamond formation and created lots of chances to score goals, this system is tasking and involve lots of energy and this is why we had Ademola on the left and also on the other side.

“After we scored it became difficult for Victor so I made another change and I didn’t want to put a defender and we can say maybe the choice was not good but if we had win we would say the choice was good.”