Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has opened up his selection dilemma ahead of Nigeria’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations third-place play-off against Egypt, citing fatigue as a major concern, Footynaija.com reports.
Chelle noticeably ditched his enterprising and high-intensity style of play for a more conservative approach in the semi-final defeat to Morocco after suggesting before the game that his players were tired from the intensity of their previous performances at the tournament.
The former Mali boss has now shed more light on why the Super Eagles had to play the way they did against Morocco while also revealing that they are facing the exact same situation, heading into their bronze final clash with the Pharaohs.
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What Eric Chelle said
“I spoke about that, just told the truth, you cannot play two games in 48 hours with the same intensity,” Chelle told reporters in Casablanca.
“You have to wait 72 hours, this is not me who says this. It is the doctor and all of these guys who know the body and I think that we were tired (before the Morocco game). So I had two options, maybe take a risk and change all of the team and if we lost you will tell me, ‘ahh why you change the team.’
“But my decision, I made the choice, the choice is not good but this is football. Sometimes, you lose some shots. For the third place, we have the same problem, same context, the players are tired, played the whole tournament, played 48 hours ago, so I will think and make my choice.
“My philosophy will be, we want to win this game. So I will put the best players for this game.”
Chelle may indeed have to rotate his squad to avoid overloading some of the players who have featured heavily since the start of the tournament. At the same time, the Super Eagles boss cannot afford over-tinkering as his side are up against a formidable opponent that will not hesitate to exploit any loopholes.
