Tremendous Eagles head coach, Eric Chelle, has enlisted the assistance of Nigerian soccer legends like Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha to encourage his staff forward of their essential 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Nigeria’s possibilities of qualifying for the event, co-hosted by america, Canada, and Mexico, are in jeopardy after a poor begin to their qualification marketing campaign.
The Tremendous Eagles have didn’t win any of their opening 4 matches. They drew with Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa, and suffered a defeat to Benin Republic. With simply three factors from a potential 12, Nigeria sits in fifth place in Group C, trailing the leaders—South Africa, Rwanda, and Benin—by 4 factors, and Lesotho by one.
To safe automated qualification, Nigeria should end prime of their group, which means they should carry out properly within the remaining six fixtures.
Chelle, who has been assembly with gamers throughout Europe to organize them, believes that involving soccer legends may present the mandatory morale enhance for the staff.
Among the many icons who’ve reportedly agreed to affix Chelle’s effort are former Arsenal striker Nwankwo Kanu, ex-Bolton Wanderers captain Austin Okocha, former Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi, and ex-Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and present skipper Ahmed Musa who at present performs for Kano Pillars within the NPFL.
“I’ve referred to as on Nigerian legends to assist us on this battle, and I’m glad they’ve agreed,” Chelle mentioned. “We are going to make sure the staff is well-prepared and do every little thing we will to get again on observe.”
Nigeria’s subsequent key matches are in opposition to Rwanda in Kigali on March 21 and Zimbabwe in Uyo on March 25. Each video games are important if the Tremendous Eagles wish to maintain their World Cup hopes alive.
Chelle, appointed as coach on January 8 after Augustine Eguavoen’s departure, faces a tough problem in turning Nigeria’s marketing campaign round. A loss in each video games would severely harm their qualification probabilities, forcing them to set their sights on the 2030 World Cup as a substitute.
The 46-year-old coach is at present centered on the World Cup qualifiers and has dismissed any issues in regards to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
“There are not any small groups in AFCON—you have to stay centered,” Chelle defined. “Proper now, my focus is on my gamers and the qualifiers in March. We’ll take into consideration AFCON later, however first, we should win these two necessary video games.”
Chelle is predicted to return to Nigeria quickly to finalise preparations with the home-based gamers earlier than saying his squad for the upcoming qualifiers.
