…as both teams play qualifiers on same day in November

Super Eagles’ head coach, Eric Chelle, is currently racking his brain on how to solve the situation he finds himself with the two national teams he is managing; the Super Eagles and the Olympic Eagles, playing their respective qualifiers on the same day in November.

While the Super Eagles will host Tanzania in a crucial Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on November 13 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the U-23 Eagles will be away against DR Congo at the TP Mazembe Stadium in Lubumbashi, DR Congo.

The second leg is also scheduled for November 17, with both National teams playing the same day in different cities; Tanzania and Ikenne, Ogun State respectively. It is left to be seen how the coach is going to handle the two games with some ex-internationals, faulting the decision to make the former Mali coach the main coach of the two National teams.

Speaking on the telephone with New Telegraph, former defender, Ifeanyi Udeze, said it was an administrative error that should have been corrected from day one. According to him, he already envisaged the problem and warned against it but nobody listened to him.

“I said from the beginning that for me it is a distraction for Eric Chelle to handle the Super Eagles and also the U-23 team,” he said. “Some people opposed me and said there is nothing wrong with it. I made reference to it then, that what if the two teams are playing the same day and everything now comes to pass.

Super Eagles will be playing Tanzania and the U-23 taking on DR Congo; will Chelle split himself into two? It is a problem because I know he will be having some kind of selection issues by now, thinking about the Super Eagles, also thinking about the U-23 Eagles as well. So it’s not going to be easy for him.”