Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle urges composure ahead of Benin decider

The Super Eagles revived their qualification hopes with a 2–1 win over Lesotho on Friday night, closing the gap to just three points behind the table-toppers.

For Nigeria to progress, they must beat Benin by two goals or more, while hoping Bafana Bafana drop points against Rwanda on Tuesday. 

Chelle said his squad understands the magnitude of the challenge ahead.

"For us we feel the pressure since March, every time my players come to camp, they feel the pressure because for Nigeria and for our team, we need to travel and we need to go to the World Cup,” Chelle said.

“So, we have lots of pressure. This is not an explanation, this is reality, so now the other team, maybe they will take our pressure too, so I'm happy about it. I'm very happy about that because playing a game without anything is not the same football. 

“Look at the first half because we were under pressure, technically sometimes we missed something and it's difficult to come into the pitch because of lots of tension but I'm so proud of my guys. 

“I told them, I'm so proud of them because they fought, they made a mistake, maybe a lot of mistakes but in reality, their state of mind was so good. So, we continue, we have a second game in a few days and like I said to my players, we go to the war again."

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Chelle added that hosting their final fixture in Uyo gives Nigeria an important lift, with strong home support expected to play a key role.

"We need to have our fans behind us to put a lot of pressure on this team. We are in Africa, so, we need to put a lot of pressure on these guys. This is a World Cup qualifier, so this game starts when they put their feet in our country,” the coach added. 

“First, we need to do the job on the pitch and we need to start the game with lots of intensity, lots of aggressivity but like the captain said, we need to score some goals. So, we have once again a few training sessions to think about the game plan but the reality, this is the question about everybody, the players, the officials, the NFF, the commission and the fans."