Chelle Accepts Responsibility For Super Eagles Draw Against Zimbabwe
Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle admitted that his decision not to bring in a defender to replace Victor Osimhen in the closing moments of the game against Zimbabwe was not good.
The match ended 1-1, which further hampered the team’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup.
Chelle came under severe criticisms from Nigerians for bringing in Victor Boniface for Victor Osimhen in the 87th minute when the team needed a defender to lock up shop to seal the maximum points.
Three minutes later, Tawanda Chirewa equalised for Zimbabwe after poor defending by the Super Eagles backline to make it 1-1 after Osimhen had given Nigeria the lead in the 74th minute.
Chelle expressed his disappointment for the players, and Nigerians at large for the draw.
He said: “In the first half we had the chance to score 10 goals, Zimbabwe came to defend, my players were the best on the pitch with possession football and fast attack.
“I’m so disappointed for my players, for the country and the way things are now we have to start looking at second place, we deserve to win but this is football.
“I think in the last 10 minutes it was hard for us because we did well in the first half with a lot of intensity so maybe the players were a little tired.
“We tried to score a lot of goals, after our goal I told my players to try to score another goal but like I said maybe they were tired.
The former Mali coach opened up on why he decided not to bring in a defender in the dying moments of the game.
Chelle said: “We played a diamond formation and created lots of chances to score goals, this system is tasking and involves lots of energy and this is why we had Ademola on the left and also on the other side.
“After we scored it became difficult for Victor so I made another change and I didn’t want to put a defender and we can say maybe the choice was not good but if we had won we would say the choice was good.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s coach, Michael Nees said the Super Eagles were lucky to escape defeat in the encounter.
He said: “We know when things don’t go 100 percent Nigerians’ way they get frustrated, they start to panic. I remember your captain said we should forget about getting a result here.
“Like I said the World Cup qualification is over when it’s over and if it is over for us then it is over for Nigeria because how many points do Nigeria have, you are not first or second
“Nigeria came into the game full of confidence after the win against Rwanda and we knew the longer the game goes the slower they will get and it was exactly the way it was.
“We showed that we don’t give up and I think with three more minutes we would have come away with a win because I think in defence your team was dead physically.
“We showed we can play football, we didn’t pack the bus. Nigeria started aggressively and wanted to end the game quickly. It didn’t work out, we resisted, we showed resilience.”
Up next for the Super Eagles is a friendly match against Russia in June.
Chelle Accepts Responsibility For Super Eagles Draw Against Zimbabwe is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
