The chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, has defended the appointment of Eric Chelle as the new coach of the Super Eagles, praising his exceptional coaching, especially with the Malian Eagles.
The 47-year-old’s appointment by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has faced criticism, with some arguing the football body settled for a former Malian coach instead of choosing a Nigerian for the top job.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, Dikko stated that Chelle has a strong understanding of African football and is well-suited for the job.
His words: “We have a World Cup qualifier that is very dicey, very critical. We have three windows to play the qualifiers, there is no window for a friendly match, there is no window for a test match and we are playing, for goodness sake, African countries – we are playing Zimbabwe, Rwanda, South Africa, Lesotho and Benin. Those are co-African countries.
“So, the only person that can come at this moment if we want to get somebody that can bring fresh thinking to the team and lead the team is somebody with the experience of African football and this coach, you should judge him with the work he has done with the national team. Forget about the club, club football is different, national team is different.
“What is the foundation of the work he has done with the national team, what is the success rate? Eric was a coach of Mali, and when he coached Mali, he made Mali a very strong team that everybody was afraid to play – they even defeated Nigeria in a friendly match, defeated South Africa in a friendly match, and totally, he played 22 games with Mali, won 14, drew 5, and only lost three, and that shows credibility with what he is doing with the national team.
“The World Cup qualifiers that we are having, we all have to outscore our opponents, Eric, with Mali, in those 22 matches scored over 40 goals, he conceded only about 12 goals.
“So, you can see the philosophy, he is also defending well and he is scoring very well. He was able to outscore his opponents. Even in the last AFCON, he lost by the miracle of the last minute by a mistake. It’s normal like that but he came with that credibility and that is the fact that he came with a new thinking to the team.”
On Nigerians’ reaction, Dikko said the uproar over the new coach’s appointment is normal, noting that every football fan in Nigeria considers themselves a coach with their own idea of who should lead the team.
