Eric Chelle’s first assignment in charge of the Super Eagles births a renewal of hope as Nigeria’s darling team secured their first win of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers to move a place up on the Group C standing.
The team strode to a 2-0 win over Rwanda in Amahoro stadium, Kigali, thanks to a Victor Osimhen first-half double, ending a run of seven winless in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, one that started in a 1-1 draw with Cape Verde in November 2021.
Nigeria, who were unbeaten yet winless away to Rwanda, having drawn in each of their three visits, while scoring just once, a goal which came through an Obafemi Martins’ equalizer in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2005, were in danger of not reaching the next edition of the global tournament.
Three draws and one defeat in their opening four games to the qualifiers left them languishing in fifth place, with the likes of South Africa, Benin and Rwanda running away at the top.
Appointed in January and tasked with turning the team’s fortune around, Eric Chelle had a fairly early easy decision to make given the form of the Super Eagles players for their respective clubs.
The former Mali boss called on the popular faces for maiden test, choosing not to complicate things.Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze all started in attack with Wilfred Ndidi partnered in midfield by Alex Iwobi, the Fulham man who earned his 70th international cap in the process.
Captain William Troost-Ekong is joined in defence by Calvin Bassey, Ola Aina and Fenerbache’s Bright Osayi-Samuel. Stanley Nwabali returned to goal having missed the defeat to Rwanda last time out in November.
“Every player in the team can play, we need to work together and achieve the goal of qualifying for the World Cup. We have great players. Today, the team was good, my job is to make the decisions, decide on the system and personality.” Chelle said.
How it happened in Eric Chelle’s first Super Eagles assignment
Despite the harsh condition in Kigali, Super Eagles made a domineering start, asking their host all the questions earlier on, with Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen combining on occasions.
The three-time African champions took a deserved lead from a set-piece earned by Moses Simon in the eleventh minute, to cap off a dominant early exchanges.
With the the goal, Osimhen overtakes Segun Odegbami to become outright second in the all-time chart for most goals in the history of Nigeria, with his 24th strike taking him 13 within the overall record of 37 by Rashidi Yekini.
The lead was almost doubled at the end of the first quarter, but Moses Simon was denied via a spectacular save from goalkeeper, after the Nantes winger was played in by Ademola Lookman, as Nigeria trio combined again, with Victor Osimhen also involved in the move.
The cushion finally came in added minute of the first half as Victor Osimhen doubled his tally with a brilliant individual effort, which left Amavubi questioning professionality.
The Galatasaray striker showed great hunger to beat a Rwanda defender to an awkwardly bouncing ball on the halfway line. He then made his way to the area, where he chipped the helpless goalkeeper for his 25th international goal.
The scoreline would not be altered until full time, although the host did had the ball in the back of the net late on, but the effort was rightly ruled out for offside.
Nigeria picked up their first away win since a 3-2 win over Sierra Leone in June 2023, and move up to six points ahead of their meeting with Zimbabwe in Uyo in Tuesday.
The result and performance was a reassurance for Nigerians that the team may yet achieve the dream of playing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, albeit it is imperative to not get carried away, because a layer to tiny ice is yet vulnerable.
Eric Chelle deserves the credit for the show put up by the Super Eagles, but this is only the start of a long journey, and the tougher days are yet to come.
“It was a difficult game, said the Franco-Malian at full time. Rwanda has a great team. I am proud of my players performance. We work a lot within the few days. We had just two full training sessions.
We keep the ball in the second half, good performance from my guys (players).””It is my joy to set up the system, we tried two different systems in the team. We need to improve, it is the first game and we are going back to work for the second game.” Eric Chelle said.
There was time for Tolu Arokodare to make his Super Eagles debut. The Genk striker, 24, replaced Victor Osimhen for the final 13 minutes of the game.
Kehinde-Hassan Afolabi
