Éric Chelle has challenged his players to improve further despite the Nigeria national football team securing an impressive 2-0 victory over the Zimbabwe national football team in the semi-final of the Unity Cup in London, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
The Super Eagles booked their place in Saturday’s final at The Valley thanks to a brilliant brace from debutant Femi Azeez.
The 24-year-old Millwall F.C. winger gave Nigeria the lead after only five minutes, finishing off a swift attacking move with a powerful left-footed strike beyond Zimbabwe goalkeeper Future Sibanda.
Nigeria continued to dominate for long periods of the encounter, with Alhassan Yusuf, Tochukwu Nnadi, and Philip Otele all coming close to extending the lead.
Azeez eventually grabbed his second goal in the 62nd minute after another flowing move involving Otele and Terem Moffi, who provided the assist for both goals.
Despite the comfortable victory, Chelle insisted the performance still showed areas for improvement as he continues to build the team.
“This is only a friendly game. This is not the World Cup qualifier. They need to work hard,” Chelle said after the game.
“They need to try to understand what I want, what the technical staff wants, and the high level is difficult.”
The Malian tactician also pointed out that the team made several avoidable mistakes in possession and revealed that those issues would be addressed during training sessions ahead of the final.
“You see, we made some mistakes with the ball. For sure, tomorrow we will work on it during training,” he added.
Nigeria will now face either Jamaica national football team or India national football team in Saturday’s final as the Super Eagles continue preparations for the upcoming 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.