Full house in Kigali ahead of Chelle’s first test as Eagles’ gaffer

Arokodare: Playing for Nigeria a dream come true

Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle was all smiles, yesterday, following the arrival of the last set of players for Friday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against the Amavubi of Rwanda.

Nigeria needs to win this game to rekindle hope of returning to the World Cup after missing the last edition in Qatar in 2022. This is Chelle’s first test since he was appointed Super Eagles coach three months ago.

On Monday, the Malian trained with just six players, but yesterday he had the full complement of the players he invited for the game to work with. Simon Moses, Victor Boniface, Raphael Onyedika, Jordan Torunarigha, Stanley Nwabali, Samuel Chukwueze, Bright Osayi and Igoh Ogbu arrived in Kigali on Monday night, while team captain, William Ekong, Wilfred Ndidi, Calvin Bassey, Ademola Lookman, Alex Iwobi, Joseph Aribo, Igoh Ogbu, and Ola Aina breezed in before midday yesterday.

Valencia forward, Sadiq Umar and Alhassan Yusuf completed the squad before yesterday evening’s training session. Some of the players, who spoke shortly on arrival in Kigali yesterday, expressed their desire to hold their Rwandan counterparts in front of their home fans.

Nigeria is currently fifth in the group with just three points from four matches as against Rwanda, South Africa and Benin Republic’s seven points each.

Looking forward to a successful first game in charge of Nigeria, Chelle said that it would be a disaster for a team as talented as the Super Eagles to fail to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Chelle, who led Mali to the 2023 African Cup of Nations’ quarterfinals in Cote d’Ivoire, said the team would work hard to ensure that it gets the six points in the games against Rwanda on Friday and in Tuesday’s