Battle of Kigali: Chelle… An opportunity to win fans’ heart, silence critics

Three months after his appointment, Super Eagles Coach, Eric Chelle, will oversee his first game today as the Super Eagles resume their World Cup qualifying campaign against the Wasps of Rwanda in Kigali. The team will face the Warriors of Zimbabwe in Uyo a few days later. GOWON AKPODONOR looks at some of the challenges before Chelle, particularly his first squad selection and tactical approach against Rwanda in the battle of Kigali.

Football is the world’s most popular sport, providing a platform for players and coaches from around the world to excel and earn great fortune, irrespective of their religion, tribe or colour.

Before the appointment of the late Coach Stephen Keshi as manager of the Hawks of Togo, he was seen as a mere talker, a brawler and a politician within African football circle. But Keshi’s reign in Togo saw the tiny West African country qualifying for the 2006 World Cup.

Although Keshi left the Hawks before the World Cup, the experience that he gathered in Togo, as well as his two-year stay with the Eagles of Mali contributed to his overall mark as one of the most successful black African coaches of all time when he took charge of the Super Eagles.

He recorded some remarkable achievements, including winning the AFCON title in 2013 despite a frosty relationship with his employers.

He was one of only two people to win the AFCON title as a player and manager, and the only black African to coach in the knockout phase of a FIFA World Cup at Brazil 2014.

Before Keshi’s coaching career in West Africa, the former captain of the Green Eagles, Christian Chukwu and Enugu Rangers’ star, Harrison Okagbue, had explored the East Africa region to different degrees of success.

While Chukwu handled the Harambee Stars of