Has it occurred to you that the Super Eagles have not lost a single match in open play since Eric Sekou Chelle took over as coach of the side? It’s remarkable but true that the only defeats his team suffered – versus DR Congo and Morocco – occurred through the lottery of penalties!
READ ALSO: Super Eagles Will Go All Out For Victory In Portugal, Emmanuel Fernandez Boasts
So, I doff my hat today for the Franco-Malian tactician who has given me every cause to cheerfully celebrate his achievements once again. Double-fold celebration it has to be, considering Wednesday’s remarkable draw away to Robert Lewandoski’s Poland, which came just four days after Chelle led his ‘second string’ Eagles to another conquest of the Unity Cup in London.
It was Nigeria’s fourth conquest of that four-nation invitational competition, which always has cultural leanings as well as social interactions and culinary values attached to it. Dramatically, of those four titles in London, Chelle now has two to his name – having also won it last year with the full assemblage of Nigeria’s star players.
The mention of star players – in comparison with a second string team – now brings to the fore the importance of Nigeria’s recent conquest of the Unity Cup. It proved two realities – 1. We now have a coach who is ready to take chances with untested players; 2. We have hidden talents who can rise up to the occasion and shine if given the chance.
Those two key factors were so crystal clear during the two historic Unity Cup games at The Valley, where Femi Azeez twinkled against Zimbabwe, Alhassan Yusuf and Terem Moffi proved their mettle in the final versus Jamaica, while Arthur Okonkwo kept clean sheets in both matches.
However, it’s not just about unheralded players rising to the occasion. A major point to note is that the squad played good football.
Not only did they play good football, they did it as a well-oiled team. The ability of this bunch of rookies and underrated lads to gel within such a short while together also speaks volumes about Chelle’s tactical savvy.
The import of Chelle’s heroics at the recent Unity Cup will become clearer when we recall that our vast array of superstars could not beat the same Jamaica in open play during last year’s final and they had to rely on penalties’ shootout to lift the cup.
In fact, they gave up a two-goal-lead and toiled to a 2-2 draw at the end of regulation time in that encounter at Brentford’s BTech Stadium.
Conversely, Chelle’s ‘rag tag squad of untested greenhorns’ wowed us all by spanking the same Jamaica 3-0 this past Saturday at the home ground of Charlton Athletic FC – The Valley – and we saw new heroes emerge in shining light, proving to us an augury of better days ahead for the Super Eagles.
All hail Eric Chelle for making it possible! All hail our Franco-Malian gaffer for proving us all wrong – especially me. I always cringe in deep rooted self-guilt when I recall how I sternly wrote against Chelle’s appointment when he came on board last year January – not because I doubted his ability, but I felt slighted that Nigeria had hired a coach from a country we are better than in terms of football pedigree.
I did not weigh the gaffer on his personal assets and individual acumen. I took him to the cleaners due to nuances of nationality, conceited ego, bias of origin and indigenous preferences.
I forgot that even England (acclaimed originators of football) once employed an ‘outlander’ from less fancied Sweden to take charge of their national team, The Three Lions.
By and large, Chelle has weathered the storm, overcome all disdainful flak and stamped his authority into the Eagles, whose key players are all repeatedly pouring loads of encomiums on him.
We now hear them echo words like desire, philosophy, intensity, zeal and aggressiveness – all of which are clichés and common refrains during press briefings with Chelle.
But it’s not just about his vocabulary and choice of words. There’s also that most important reality that the Super Eagles are now showing signs of ‘real coaching’ when they play.
We now see tactical structuring, strategic build-up from defence to attack, calm approach in search of goals, dominant ball possession, properly linked departments, well-connected team play, neat balance at the back and a gameplan that reflects drills from the training pitch.
