Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Sekou Chelle has taken a closer look at his team’s goal scoring qualities and noted that it is one reason why Nigerians should expect them to defeat Mozambique this Monday at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Sports247 reports that, though Chelle also admitted along the way that his defence has not been as solid as expected, he is happy that the forwards have lived up to expectations in their last handful of games.
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As it were, the AFCON 2025 technical study group voted Chelle as best coach of the ongoing competition’s group stage and his team also emerged as the highest scoring side from the first three games played by all countries in the unfolding continental showpiece.
Those accolades are based on three straight victories for his team – 2-1versus Tanzania, 3-2 against Tunisia as well as 3-1 over Uganda, but Chelle goes further back to point out that his side also had good results in their last couple of games before losing the World Cup qualification play-off final on penalties against DR Congo after a 1-1 draw at regulation time.
His results before that match were 4-0 over Benin Republic and 4-1 versus Gabon, but a 2-1 defeat by Egypt a week before AFCON 2025 is not taken into consideration because it was an unofficial friendly that was later tagged as a ‘training match.’
However, now that his squad is heading into Monday’s round of 16 clash with Mozambique, Chelle has cast his mind back to the recent rain of goals by the Eagles and reasoned that it is a major reason why they should defeat their latest opponent at AFCON 2025.
The Franco-Malian tactician reckoned further that his team’s winning momentum so far at AFCON 2025 is also a big boost for them heading into Monday’s 8pm kick-off at Complexe Sportif de Fès.
Chelle stated, “For the last four games, we scored between 10 and 12 goals, which is very good. For sure, we want to win, and I am always looking for the best results for my team.”
The former coach of Mali and MC Oran FC of Algeria also appealed for patience from Nigerian fans, as he pointed out that his best desires for the team may not work as planned all the time, but he further promised to keep making choices that he believes would lead to victories.
“My choices are always for the best of my team, but I am not perfect. Sometimes, the choices that you make are very good because the players can come into the pitch and score or make an assist.
“Sometimes the player will come in but looks jittery and can’t score. After that, everybody says the coach is not good or the substitution is bad. But this is football,” Chelle theorised.
He concluded with a view that analysis of a game should not focus solely on what went wrong during the match, but also consider positive efforts that the coach did towards achieving a good result for his team, even if his choices do not yield the desired result.
“The best way for me is that we talk about the bad things, and we also talk about the good things. We analyse each match, and we try to improve for the next one,” Chelle submitted.
