Eric Chelle Warns Super Eagles Ahead Of Tough Guinea-Bissau Clash

Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle has warned the Super Eagles to expect a difficult match against Guinea-Bissau as they aim to make it two wins from two in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The Super Eagles will face the Djurtus in Bissau on Tuesday, with both teams going into the Group L encounter with three points.

Guinea-Bissau started their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Tanzania, while Nigeria came from behind to defeat Madagascar 2-1 in Uyo.

Chelle expects another tough test away from home and has urged his players to remain focused on their game.

“Guinea-Bissau, they have a great team and they have some players who play in Europe, in Africa, in Turkey, France. So, this is a big game,” Chelle said at his pre-match press conference.

“The most important thing for us is to try to go forward, is to try to keep this victory, but it will be not easy.

“So, we have to stay focused about our group and our state of mind, which is the most important thing.”

The Super Eagles have also faced questions about the playing surface in Bissau, but Chelle refused to make the pitch a major issue.

“I don’t want to say the pitch is good or the pitch is bad, you work on the pitch,” he said.

“So, like I said, we just need to stay focused on our game project.”

Chelle also revealed that some players could undergo late fitness checks before the match.

George Ilenikhena, who scored Nigeria’s equaliser against Madagascar on his senior international debut, has a minor concern, while two other players are reportedly dealing with illness.

“We have to manage maybe George, he has a little something,” Chelle said.

“So, we have to manage the last training session. After that, we have two or three players, they are a little sick. So, we’ll see after the training session, before tomorrow.”

Ilenikhena’s availability could be important for Nigeria, particularly with Victor Osimhen ruled out of the September qualifiers through injury.

Chelle also admitted that Nigeria need to improve despite their victory over Madagascar.

The coach said the limited preparation time during international windows makes it difficult for teams to work extensively on their tactics before competitive matches.

“We didn’t have some training sessions to work a lot, you know. This is the problem of this kind of FIFA window,” he said.

“You have only one or two training sessions to prepare something.

“So, after that, you have only one or two training sessions to recover and you have to travel.”

Nigeria conceded first against Madagascar before Ilenikhena equalised in stoppage time and Moses Usor scored the winning goal in the second half.

Chelle believes the statistics showed that Nigeria deserved the victory, although he admitted the overall performance was not convincing.

“If you watch, because we watched the last game, we analysed this game, and if you see the statistics, you can say this victory, we deserve this victory,” he said.

“But the movie of the game, it was not very, very good, like I said.”

Guinea-Bissau will also approach Tuesday’s encounter with confidence after defeating Tanzania 2-0 in their opening match.

Franculino Djú opened the scoring in the 33rd minute before Mama Baldé doubled the lead early in the second half.

Baldé has previously scored against Nigeria, netting the winner when Guinea-Bissau defeated the Super Eagles 1-0 in Abuja during the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.

Nigeria later won the return fixture 1-0 in Bissau.

With both teams currently on three points, Tuesday’s match will be an important early test for Chelle’s side.

A victory would take Nigeria to six points from two matches and give the Super Eagles a strong start to their qualifying campaign.