• Gabon Plan Special Strategy To Cage Osimhen
Super Eagles’ Coach, Eric Chelle, has called on Nigerians to rally round the senior national team as they seek for a route to next year’s World Cup through the African and inter-continental playoffs.
Nigeria will meet Gabon in the opening game of the four-team African playoff, which begins on November 13 in Morocco. Victory in that game will take the Super Eagles to the decisive game of the playoff against either DR Congo or Cameroon, who will also meet on November 13.
The winner of the African playoff will join five other teams in Mexico next year to fight for two tickets to the World Cup billed to hold in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Looking forward to a successful campaign in both competitions, Chelle acknowledged the enormity of the task before the Super Eagles, saying, however, that his team will excel if Nigerians backed them in the battles.
“We need total support from our fans because we play every match under pressure. I don’t have doubts about the quality of this team, but we must be focused and mentally ready and in a collective mindset,” he said.
On the game against Gabon, Chelle said that it is a match Nigeria must win, adding, “if we win that game, we will aim for the second. The goal is to win the matches.”
Chelle is expected to lead his players to camp in Morocco from tomorrow, with their first training session in Rabat billed to hold on Monday.
The list of players for the campaign will be released by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) today, a source at the federation told The Guardian, saying that the NFF and Chelle started planning for the playoff immediately after Group C’s final game of the African qualifying series.
Meanwhile, Gabon Coach Thierry Mouyouma has admitted that his team must adopt a special tactical approach to deal with the threat of Victor Osimhen on November 13, describing the Super Eagles striker as an unpredictable striker.
Despite featuring in only five matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers due to fitness concerns, Osimhen made a remarkable impact, netting six goals.
The highlight of his performance was a stunning hat-trick in Nigeria’s emphatic 4–0 victory over Benin’s Cheetahs on October 14.
When asked how he plans to defend against Osimhen, Mouyouma emphasised that the Super Eagles forward’s all-round qualities demand a tailored strategy rather than a conventional defensive setup.
Mouyouma said, “We have to defend, as we wouldn’t defend against just anyone. How do we actually defend against him?
“This type of player can be unpredictable, but he also loves playing in behind.
“The ability to reduce the distances behind us is one way, but even if you solve this problem, he has another side to his game—set pieces and corners.
“That’s where the complexity lies. That’s where the work of a coach becomes interesting, because we are going to dissect, debate, and agree on a common defensive strategy.”
