BREAKING NEWS: Eagles must improve to reach 2026 W’Cup – Chelle

 Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle has warned that the team still has a lot of things to improve on to bring their hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup to life, The PUNCH reports.

The Super Eagles are currently preparing for their third friendly game in about two weeks – facing Russia on Friday in Moscow after beating Ghana and Jamaica to win the second edition of the Unity Cup in London last Saturday.

Chelle, who took over the Eagles job in January, has the mandate of leading the team to the final of the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, while the task of overturning the team’s ill-fated 2026 World Cup qualifiers campaign is also starring him in the face.

According to the Franco-Malian coach, he would have opted against the Unity Cup in London, but he sees the lineup of games as an opportunity for the team to improve before resuming their World Cup qualifying campaign in September.

“We have an important goal in September. So I saw this as an opportunity to give many players a chance to show what they can do. And I’m really happy and proud of them because, in just two or three training sessions, they worked really hard. That’s the reality,” Chelle said.

“During the Unity Cup, we scored goals, we created chances, and we showed some very good things in our game. But of course, we still need to work. We have weaknesses. We need to improve, to step up as a group and as a team, especially if we want to qualify for the World Cup.”

“The most important thing for me is that we play together — both in defence and offence. We need to improve all the time, mentally and physically. We must become warriors on the pitch.”

The 47-year-old began his Super Eagles reign in March with a win and a draw in two World Cup qualifying games, but it wasn’t enough to revive their chances of picking the sole ticket from their group.

With four games left in the series, Chelle’s men will face Rwanda (home) and South Africa (away) in September, while their last two games are against Lesotho (away) and the Benin Republic (home) in October.

They need to win their remaining matches to stand a chance of qualifying as they are currently fourth in Group C with just seven points, six points behind leaders South Africa.