Nigeria have had barely enough time to enjoy their comeback against Madagascar before another demanding AFCON 2027 qualifier arrives, and Eric Chelle has admitted that the Super Eagles could do very little tactical work between the two matches, Footynaija.com reports.
The Super Eagles came from behind to beat Madagascar 2-1 in Uyo on Friday, with George Ilenikhena and Moses Usor scoring on their senior debuts. Three days later, Chelle’s side will face Guinea-Bissau in Bissau, where another three points would put them in a strong position at the top of Group L.
Guinea-Bissau also won their opening qualifier, beating Tanzania 2-0 away from home. With Tanzania already guaranteed a place at the 2027 AFCON as co-hosts, only the highest-placed non-host in Group L will take the remaining qualifying place. That makes Tuesday’s meeting an early contest between the two sides that started with victories.
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Chelle, however, has not had the time normally available to a coach preparing for a major competitive fixture. Nigeria played on Friday, travelled to Bissau and had to balance recovery with preparations for another match within the same international window.
Chelle explains what Nigeria could not work on
Asked what he had done to correct the problems he saw against Madagascar, Chelle gave a blunt answer.
“We did nothing. We did nothing because we didn’t have some training session to work about this. This is the problem of this kind of window. You have only one or two training sessions to prep something. So after that you have only one or two training sessions to recover and you have to travel,” he said in his pre-match assessment.
The point was not that Nigeria had abandoned preparation. Chelle was explaining the limits placed on national-team coaches during a short international window, where there is barely enough time to recover players before another competitive game arrives.
His comments also explain why he has focused more on analysing the Madagascar performance than trying to rebuild the team in a matter of days.
“We watched the last game, we analysed this game,” he said, adding that the statistics showed Nigeria deserved the victory.
Chelle was less impressed by how the game looked, particularly after Madagascar scored first, but the result gave him three points to take into the second fixture.
Nigeria must carry the lessons from Uyo into an away game against a Guinea-Bissau side that also won its opener, without having had the training time to make major changes.
For Chelle, the challenge is not simply finding a better performance. It is getting the existing group ready to execute his ideas again, almost immediately.
