Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Sekou Chelle has spoken out to emphatically declare that the substitutions he made during Saturday’s match did not affect his team negatively, Sports247 reports.
Many Nigerian football fans are still posting comments on social media that the removal of Frank Onyeka, in particular, caused a breakdown in the Eagles’ midfield and made them concede two goals.
Read Also: AFCON 2025: Chelle Details Onyeka’s Inclusion Against Tunisia | Sports247 Nigeria
The argument since Saturday night has been that Chelle’s substitutions allowed Tunisia take control of the game and they almost drew level, after going 3-0 down initially, while the Eagles barely held on for a tight 3-2 finish.
However, Chelle continues to strongly refute critical comments about his substitutions late in the game, as he insists the Tunisians were bound to fight back after his side dominated the run of play for 75 minutes.
The Franco-Malian gaffer reiterated, “My choice of substitutions did not determine what happened on the pitch. It was just that we controlled the game for 75 minutes, but the Tunisians came back after that.
“They arrived into the game and penatrated our side of the pitch. We had to make substitutions because you cannot control a game for 90 minutes.
“This is my situation, but it was not because of my substitutions that we gave away the two goals. It was just that we did high pressure for 75 minutes and, after that, they just had to find a way into our area.”
Chelle then explained what informed his decision to yank off Onyeka and Akor Adams, then send in Chidera Ejuke and Moses Simon, who both turned out to be ineffective, with the first of the duo even losing a sitter that should have made the result 4-2.
“We tried to change the game by substituting our wingers, and we stopped playing from the side. We wanted to hold them through the middle, but they scored with two set pieces.
“They scored one from a corner kick and the other with a penalty kick. In that case, it means we have to improve how to defend set pieces,” Chelle conceded.
While promising to work on avoiding set pieces, Chelle confessed that he has become increasingly confused about the rules guiding how referees award penalties after ball handling in the box, but they also sometimes overlook them.
Chelle admitted, “I don’t know about that penalty, and I didn’t see it on video. The reality is that I don’t know the rule of penalties.
“Sometimes they tell us there is no penalty if the ball touches the body before the hand. They also say other things like that … but I don’t know the rule. All I know is that we have to improve how to prevent set pieces.”
Sports247 checks revealed that Tunisia’s first goal came in the 74th minute of play, which might have motivated Chelle to send on Simon and Ejuke in the 79th in order to regain control of the game.
However, a VAR review punished Bright Osayi-Samuel for ball handling in the 87th minute and Tunisia stormed forward in search of the equaliser, so Chelle sent on Chidozie Awaziem in place of man of the match, Ademola Lookman, to absorb pressure deep in added time.
That paid off, as Nigeria eventually won the game 3-2 and joined Egypt as early qualifiers for the second round, ahead of their last group ‘formality’ fixture versus Uganda on Tuesday.
