Super Eagles head coach, Eric Chelle, has demanded aggression and intensity from his players as Nigeria begin their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign against Madagascar in Uyo on Friday.
The encounter will be the fifth meeting between both countries in AFCON qualifying, with Nigeria unbeaten in their previous four clashes, recording three wins and one draw.
Chelle said the Super Eagles had completed their final training session ahead of the encounter and were prepared for the demands of the qualifying campaign.
“We want to stay focus on our group and our team, this is our job, to manage the pressure,” Chelle said at his pre-match news conference on Thursday.
“The qualifiers start tomorrow, we have to be ready first for the group and for us and after, of course for the country.”
The Franco-Malian coach said Nigeria were motivated by their status and expected to make a strong statement when they face Madagascar.
“There’s a big game tomorrow, we had the last training session to prepare for this game. This team has a good ranking in the world, so we are motivated and the first idea is to give the signal to everybody, every nation who Nigeria is.”
Chelle added that the players were in a positive frame of mind and understood the importance of starting the campaign on the right note.
“My players are in a good state of mind, they understand everything and like I said this is not a question of to win or lose, this is a question of state of mind,” he added.
The coach also urged his players to put their previous setbacks behind them and approach the qualifier with ambition and determination.
“We are in Uyo and the opponent needs to know they are coming to hell, I want my player to be very aggressive, put a lot of intensity,” he said.
“We have to go forward and try to forget about what happened last year, to be ambitious at every moment, every training session, every game and if we do that, of course, we can hope to win every game.”
Nigeria will be looking to make a positive start after struggling during the early stages of their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Super Eagles collected only three points from their opening four matches in a group containing South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Rwanda and Benin Republic.
Friday’s clash with Madagascar therefore offers Chelle’s side an opportunity to begin their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign with a strong performance in Uyo.
