Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle says their deciding 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Benin will start the minute the their opponents step on Nigerian soil.
This comes after Nigeria’s 2-1 defeat of Lesotho in their penultimate qualifying game against Lesotho in Polokwane on Friday evening.
This is a result that saw the seven time African champions remain in third place in Group C and three points from Benin who are in pole position.
Nigeria will qualify if they beat Benin by and will need a favourable result from the match between South Africa and Rwanda in Mbombela.
Chelle said he is going to need everyone to play their part for his players to be able to deliver on the pitch in a game he called war.
“Definitely we need to have our fans behind us to make lot of pressure on this team,” said Chelle.
“Look we are in Africa, so we need to put lot of pressure on these guys. This is a World Cup qualifier. So this game starts when they put their feet in our country, first. Then second we need to do the job on the pitch.
“We need to start the game with lot of intensity, lot of aggressivity, but like Captain said, we need to score some goal.
“So we have, once again, few training session to think about a game plan. But the reality this is a question about everybody, the players, the officials, the NFF, the Commission and the fans.”
The coach added that he was proud of his charges on Friday especially for their strong state of mind.
“I’m so proud of my guys,” added Chelle.
“I told them I’m so proud of them because they fight. They did a mistake, maybe a lot of mistake but the reality their state of mind was so good.
“We continue we have our second game in a few days and like I said to my player, we go to the war again.”
