Chelle Says Forget Madagascar, Because Guinea-Bissau Is Different

Sports

Uyo · Saturday 26 September 2026

Eric Chelle has told the Super Eagles to move on quickly from the Madagascar win and prepare for a different opponent when they face Guinea-Bissau away on Tuesday 29 September. He has also spoken about Ademola Lookman's difficult night in Uyo.

football team training session drills Photograph by Omar Ramadan via Unsplash.

Why the second game is the harder one

An away qualifier in West Africa, three days after an emotional home win, against a side that will have watched Nigeria concede first to Madagascar. Travel, heat, an unfamiliar surface and an opponent with nothing to lose are exactly the conditions in which Nigerian qualifying campaigns have leaked points before.

Friday, Madagascar	Tuesday, Guinea-Bissau
At home in Uyo	Away
Behind early, came back	Cannot afford the same start
Two debutants scored	Opponents now know about them

Three days between matches is not enough to fix anything. It is enough to rest.

The Lookman question. A week ago he won a Madrid derby and Diego Simeone praised him by name. On Friday he struggled. The same player in two shirts, three thousand miles apart, and Chelle chose to address it rather than let it become a story. National team form and club form are different things, and the gap is usually about role rather than quality.

The first qualifier is where a campaign starts. The second is where it finds out whether the first was real.

The Osimhen shadow

Former international Garba Kaita has called Osimhen's absence a huge loss, which is true and is also exactly what Friday partly answered. Nigeria scored twice without him through two players nobody had seen at this level. A second win on Tuesday would make that less a stroke of luck and more a squad that works.

Reporting: Premium Times, The Sun Nigeria and Punch Newspapers.

Read next

• Anthony Joshua And Tyson Fury Are Fighting In Cardiff In December
• A Man Asked Asisat Oshoala What Football Had To Do With Her
• Tinubu Says He Is Correcting Past Mistakes, And Asks For More Time

If you argue about Nigerian football for a living, you may as well dress like it. Caps and tees are in the TalkTalkNigeria store, and Naira pricing is here.