Coach Eric Chelle has been pushing the Super Eagles to fight to get their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign back on track after a poor start, according to winger Moses Simon.
Nigeria are fourth in their qualifying group and in danger of not qualifying for the Mundial as they are six points adrift of leaders South Africa.
Tomorrow, they host Rwanda in Uyo, before they fly out to South Africa three days later for another crucial qualifying tie.
Moses Simon is one of the senior players in the team and he said coach Eric Chelle has been doing everything to make sure they win the two games to improve their qualification chances.
“He’s trying to push, he never gives up and he’s trying to inspire the boys to fight no matter what, which for me is one of the things we need because the old national team, the old players then, they always fight,” said the Paris FC forward.
“Not fight on the pitch, they fight to play. They fight for the shirt, they fight for the badge, which for me he is really good for the players also and he is good for the nation.”
“We need to score more goals because the Super Eagles of those days and the Super Eagles of now, I think those days before twenty minutes, the game is over,” Simon said.
Despite the odds being stacked so highly against them, Simon has remained confident the Super Eagles can qualify for the World Cup: “My confidence level is high because we have it in us to qualify.
“In terms of the spirit, everything is high and myself, I have the belief and dream to be there. As team we are ready to work and to encourage the young ones also, we need to work together.
“We have to get the job done because this is our opportunity and we can’t miss it.”
He is equally positive they can now get the goals to win these qualifiers after only a victory in six rounds of matches.
” Now, we are trying to adapt because for me, we just need to score goals for us to avoid all these,” he said.
“This is something that needs to change because you can see it affected even the CHAN team. They didn’t score a lot of goals and when the opponent have their chances, they finish it quickly.
“This is something we need to change generally because sometimes when you say goals, people think it’s just strikers. Wingers need to score goals. The last AFCON, I think Ekong had three goals and he’s a defender.
“A defender can score, a midfielder can score, even a striker can score. We just need to do it collectively. Score goals and defend well and all of us have to do it together as a team.”
