Chelle Priotizes AFCON Over World Cup Qualification Failure
By Saheed Afolabi
Nigeria coach, Eric Chelle has shifted his focus shifted his focus to the 2025 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) following the disastrous outing at the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification playoffs.
The Super Eagles were knocked out in the final of the Africa World Cup playoffs by DR Congo which marked their second consecutive absence from the global football event.
Chelle believes the failure to qualify for the World Cup is now behind the Eagles while their attention is now on executing the AFCON.
He opined that continuous discussion about the World Cup absence will distract the players who should focus their concentration on the AFCON.
“We are here and we have a game tomorrow and also we have a tournament so we don’t have the time to think about what has happened before,” he said.
“This is not the moment to talk about the World Cup qualiiers, for now the most important thing is this tournament.”
The former Mali national team coach noted that the encounter against Tanzania is crucial to Super Eagles survival.
“Our first game is a big game and the first game is very important and for sure we want to win this game.”
The Super Eagles will trade tackles with Tanzania in their first game at the 2025 AFCON at the Fez stadium, Fes on Tuesday, December 23.
