Super Eagles head coach, Éric Chelle, has admitted Nigeria will face a stern challenge against Zimbabwe’s Warriors in Tuesday’s 2026 Unity Cup semi-final at the Valley.
Nigeria and Zimbabwe previously met during the qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with both fixtures ending in draws. Despite the outcomes, Chelle insisted the Super Eagles deserved more from the encounters.
“Zimbabwe is a great team, a great team with strong players. If you want to talk about our last game, you need to talk not only about the result. Because if you see the result, you will not believe. But if you watch the game, we were supposed to win the game by at least 98 percent,” Chelle said during a press conference in London on Monday.
“Definitely, Zimbabwe is a great team. They come with a lot of motivation. They want to win.”
The Malian tactician has included 14 new players in his squad for the invitational competition, with eight of them drawn from the Nigeria Premier Football League.
Chelle explained that the tournament offers the newcomers a valuable platform to prove they deserve a long-term place in the Super Eagles setup.
“Like I said, we have a vision for this national team,” added Chelle.
“Some of the new players are ready and motivated. The players of the NPFL, the players of the European leagues, the have the chance to enter the Super Eagles (main) team.
“When you play a game like this, the first thing is the attitude, the state of mind. They have to show us first their state of mind. The most important thing is for them to know that when you play football, you can make some mistakes.
“This is not the question about the mistakes. This is the question of what you can do after the mistakes. It’s a question about the state of mind. The only pressure that they can have is to fight for every ball. It is to run, run and run.”
