The Super Eagles are soaring at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, serving up some good football and goals.
And the chief cook has been Eric Sekou Chelle, whose appointment as Super Eagles coach was laughed at by many a year ago as a very bad joke.
In 15 matches under his watch in the past year, the Super Eagles have won nine and drawn five with a 2-1 loss to Egypt in a pre-AFCON friendly his only loss thus far.
The 48-year-old coach has not been afraid to take risks, beginning with accepting to take up the top coaching post even when all hopes were lost that the Super Eagles will qualify for the 2026 World Cup after a pathetic start to the campaign during which the team only managed three points from four matches.
Somehow, Nigeria eventually made it to a final Playoffs in Morocco, where they fell short on penalties to DR Congo.
It was therefore understandable that public confidence in the Super Eagles crashed going into this AFCON in Morocco.
However, in 10 days under the harsh winter of North Africa the former Mali coach has won over many who in the first place were left baffled by his appointment.
An opening day 2-1 victory over Tanzania was not celebrated as the fans expected more goals and were furious with the late consolation goal by the East Africans.
Then, the much-anticipated Battle of the Eagles between Nigeria and Tunisia, which the Super Eagles deservedly won 3-2 even though they almost threw it away no thanks to a late fight back by the Carthage Eagles.
The Eagles are scoring goals, but they are also letting them in.
Eric Chelle again displayed his bravery when he lined up a second-string side against Uganda, who needed to win to stay alive in the competition and also boasted a superior head-to-head record against Nigeria.
The result was a convincing 3-1 victory by the Super Eagles squad players to prove the strength in depth of the team in Morocco.
On his appointment in January 2025, the coach promised his team will score goals and in Morocco he has promised the team will improve with each passing game.
All these have been possible because unlike the 2026 World Cup qualifiers when he could barely train the team because of the crammed international window, he has had a lot more time to get his vision and ideas across to the team.
The players and backroom staff described Eric Chelle as an ever-demanding task master.
He will need to do a lot more with the Super Eagles at this AFCON and beyond because long-suffering fans are yet to come to terms with the team crashing out of the 2026 World Cup.
