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Super Eagles head coach, Eric Chelle, has said that his players are focused on beating Tanzania in their opening group game of the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Tuesday.
The Super Eagles will open their campaign at the ongoing AFCON in Fez, Morocco and ahead of the match, Chelle previewed the game at a press conference on Monday.
Speaking, the Franco-Malian gaffer said he and his wards are determined to kickstart their campaign by picking up all three points, while he described the match against Tanzania as a highly important foundation for the tournament.
For Chelle, the group stage encounter against the Taifa Stars at the Complexe Sportif de Fès is a must-win game for Nigeria, even as he said that the focus is firmly on securing maximum points.
“This is a big game because it is the first game, and the first game is very important,” Chelle said during his pre-match press conference.
“For sure, we want to win this game. Nigeria’s ambition at the tournament must be evident from the outset; the team is fully prepared to compete with confidence and purpose.”
Chelle further said that he wouldn’t like to respond to speculation about his future being dependent on Nigeria’s outing at the 2025 AFCON.
He explained that he refused to be distracted, saying categorically that his commitment is to the task at hand in Morocco.
“I am only focused on the game and my players,” he said. “After the AFCON, we woll have a meeting with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). For now, we stay focused on the first game. We want to show our ambition.”
Chelle further said that he had no time to ponder on the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The manager insisted that past disappointments have no place in the team’s current mind-set which is to do very well at the AFCON tournament.
“We have a tournament and we are here to be ambitious,” he said. “I don’t have the time to think about what happened before. The most important thing is the next game.”
