Super Eagles head coach Éric Chelle has demanded more work from his players despite the impressive victory over Zimbabwe, reports Completesports.com.
Nigeria defeated the Warriors 2-0 in the semi-final of the Unity Cup at the Valley on Tuesday night.
Azeez Steals Show For Super Eagles
Femi Azeez emerged the hero for the Super Eagles, scoring twice to guide the three-time African champions into the final, where they will face either Jamaica or Iran.
The 24-year-old who plays for Millwall FC in the English Championship, swiftly put the Super Eagles in the lead after only five minutes, when he finished off a great team move with a left-footed rocket that Zimbabwe goalkeeper Future Sibanda could not stop.
Alhassan Yusuf, Tochukwu Nnadi, and Philip Otele all came close to increasing Nigeria’s lead afterwards.
Azeez netted his and Nigeria’s second of the night in the 62nd minute after beating Sibanda in the box following another swift team move, with Otele finding Terem Moffi who then located the Millwall man in the vital area.
Read Also:Who Should Eric Chelle Consider For The 2026 Unity Cup?
Moffi also set up Azeez for the opening goal.
Chelle Demands More From Players
Chelle is expecting a better performance from his players in the final.
“This is only a friendly game. This is not the World Cup qualifier. They need to work hard,” Chelle said at his post-match interview after the game at The Valley in London.
“They need to try to understand what I want, what the technical staff want and the high level is difficult.
“So you see, we made some mistakes with the ball. For sure, you see tomorrow we will it work out during training,” he said.
In Saturday’s final at the Valley, the Super Eagles will take on the winner of Wednesday’s second semi-final between last year’s runners-up Jamaica and India.
By Adeboye Amosu
7 Comments
Chelle is a tough task master o! The guy has a keen for what he needs to lead Super Eagles to the promised land and he will not settle for less.
Whereas the whole Super Eagles fan base are praising Femi Azees to high heavens, Coach Chelle spared no words in expressing that he is expecting more, much more from the Wrexham winger in subsequent matches, despite his eye-catching debut display against Zimbabwe.
“ Femi Azeez scored two goals in that match, I congratulate him, but he lost a lot of balls, so not happy with him even though he recovered some of these balls,” Eric Chelle said at the post-match media briefing.
“I also asked them to do the high pressing for the whole 90 minutes.” Chelle concluded.
It has to be recalled that Eric Chelle has had zero compunction dropping players he himself invited after said players’ performances dipped after promising starts.
The likes of Adebayo Adefemi and Tolu Arokodare come to mind even as players like Moses Simon, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Simon Chukwueze have become part-time players under Chelles no-nonsense tactical selection policies as the Malian continues to work a tight ship.
So, if I were Femi Azeez, I would not let those 2 goals get into my head, I will, instead, take heed.
For, under Chelle, no player’s starting position is safe, despite a promising start.. After all, Samuel Chukwueze was the star of the same position that Azeez played yesterday in last year’s Unity Cup before Chelle ultimately picked and stuck with Ademola Lookman for that same position after Chukwueze failed to sustain that performance!
Na why I dey look NFF with wicked eye for “refusing” to open concrete talks with Chelle on a new contract yet with 6 months to go.
They appear to want to lean with local coach that will have player positions safe once more.
I hope Gusau leaves by by September
Take Fisayo out of part time players. He has delivered when it mattered most. He is perhaps the best midfielder in the failed WCQ. The few matches he played he showed up.. 2 goals and 1 assist.
Lets me be logical not emotional!
The way your mind works,every Yoruba player is perfect!If you’re given Chelle’s job,you’ll call Mutui Adepoju out of retirement!Yeye dey smell..Haha…
Yea I am getting to like this coach mentality…
Nigerians needs to understand just like chelle pointed out…..
This is a friendly game……
So all this noise of oboy this boys dey ball….
Oboy we don discover our next number 10, our number 4, our number 8, bla bla bla does not really hold water…..
The unity cup is just a four nation and four days tournament….
So It is really ridiculous and laughable to say Nigeria has discovered the “mesmerizing jay jay okocha” in just four days….
I mean in a four days, four nation friendly tournaments, you have discovered a whole jay jay okocha….
Lets see this guys play few minutes against more serious teams and tournaments…..
On the contrary, the unity cup has been officially announced by FIFA as a tier 1 event. Competitive fixtures that will impact FIFA rankings even more than the Portugal and Poland friendlies next month.
Africa will play 30 matches at the world cup group stage and FIFA rankings will be altered.
Winning the unity cup will be similar to having results in 2 out of 3 world cup group stage matches as well.
We sure need the points after our WC failure and keep the big for nothing senior men on their toes too
Azeez just broke a 55 years old record (1971) of scoring 2 goals on debut as super Eagles player.
It’s great news especially as eagles need rebuilding and FIFA rankings to be steady too
Baba no matter how fifa try to glorify and paint it….
It is what it is….
The unity cup is still an international standalone non competitive invitational friendly tournament…..
It’s benefits majorly is to test new and emerging talents, experiment with tactics, and prepare for upcoming official qualifiers like the african cup of nations….
Little wonder just like the friendly games, fifa does make money or invest in it….
It is being invested upon heavily by local independent football promoters and organizers…..
And in return, all the proceeds and revenue generated go to them and the participating teams….
And so I stand by my words…..
You can not discover the next jay jay okocha in just four days!!