Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has stated that the team remains focus on their quarterfinal clash against Algeria on Saturday, despite several off-field distractions, SportPremi reports.
Nigeria and Algeria will meet in a rematch of the 2019 AFCON semifinal, where the latter stunned the former with a stoppage-time winner to seal a 2-1 victory.
The Super Eagles have been very impressive so far in Morocco in this edition of the tournament, but have faced several distractions over the course of the week.
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During the 4-0 win over Mozambique in the Round of 16, striker Victor Osimhen angrily confronted teammate Ademola Lookman, before requesting to come off.
The Galatasaray forward also refused to participate in the post-match celebrations and was the first player to leave the arena for the team bus, although the issue has since been resolved.
Also, the team were reported to have boycotted training earlier in the week over unpaid bonuses and incentives, although the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) claimed to have bow resolved the payment issues.
The Super Eagles will take to the field at 5 PM today in Marrakesh, as they face Algeria to determine who progresses to the last four to face Morocco, who defeated Cameroon a day earlier.
Eric Chelle speaks ahead of Algeria clash
Speaking ahead of the clash against Algeria, Eric Chelle who has guided the team to an impressive performance so far in Morocco, believes the players are focused on their progressing from their last eight clash against Algeria.
“This is my job, to try to stay focused only on the pitch, not around it. You can talk about the energy and you can talk about the state of mind, which is the most important thing. Once again, what happens around this team, I just want to talk about the pitch. If you have other questions, ask my Federation”, Chelle admitted.
“I try to stay focused on the pitch and bring my best, my motivation, to this group. The group has stayed with great solidarity, so every time you do something, there are some good things and bad things, but you have to stay focused. The most important thing is your objective and the group.
“In that case, our state of mind is good. We are physically ready. Tactically, I have to make choices, and technically we are ready too”, the Nigerian head coach added.
“To win this game, we have to score some goals. We analyze the game, we try to find the weakness of the opponent.
“We try to put in the heads of our team that we can pass by this door. This is the same every time, the same, and the coach of Algeria, this is the same.”
