Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast show, Dikko claimed that Chelle shown his great coaching abilities, particularly with the Malian Eagles.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced Chelle as the new coach of the senior men’s national team on Tuesday. He is the third person to lead the squad since Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro left.
The decision to hire a former Malian coach to take over the Eagles’ top position, which they said should have gone to Nigerian coaches, has infuriated many Nigerian sports fans, who have accused the football organization of “descending low.”
The commotion around the new coach’s appointment, according to Dikko, “is normal, there has never been a coach that has been appointed in Nigeria that people do not complain” since every football fan in the country is a coach and has their own standards for what a coach ought to be.
According to Dikko, who is the coach of the Malian team, Chelle won a friendly game against the Super Eagles. He claimed that Chelle is qualified for the position and has a solid grasp of African football.
“We have a World Cup qualifier that is very critical and risky,” the sports commission stated. We have three windows for the qualifications; there aren’t any windows for friendly or test matches, and we’re playing, for heaven’s sake, African nations: South Africa, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Benin. These nations are co-African.
Therefore, the only person who can come right now if we want someone who can lead the team and bring new ideas to the table is someone with African football expertise. You should evaluate this coach based on his work with the national team. Disregard the club; the national team and club football are two distinct things.
What is the basis for his work with the national team, and how successful has it been? When Eric was Mali’s coach, he turned his squad into one that was so formidable that no one dared play against them; they even won a friendly match against South Africa and Nigeria, and completely, he played 22 games with Mali, won 14, draw 5, and only lost three and that shows credibility with what he is doing with the national team.
“We all have to score more goals than our opponents in these World Cup qualifying matches. Eric, with Mali, scored over 40 goals in those 22 games while giving up only about 12 goals.”
As you can see from the philosophy, he is scoring goals and defending well. He managed to outscore his rivals. Even in the most recent AFCON, he lost due to a last-minute error. It is typical in that regard, yet he brought credibility to the squad by bringing fresh perspectives.
