Cup holders Nigeria go into Saturday’s Unity Cup final against Jamaica at The Valley, Charlton Athletic’s stadium in London, with the Super Eagles determined to retain the trophy while leaving nothing to chance against the Reggae Boyz.
Head Coach Eric Chelle, whose side brushed aside Zimbabwe 2-0 in Tuesday’s semi-final, has signalled he may tinker with his personnel and tactics for the showpiece against the Jamaicans, who edged India by the same scoreline in their own last-four tie.
The two sides are no strangers to this stage. In last year’s final at the Brentford Stadium, Moses Simon gave Nigeria an early lead before Kaheim Dixon levelled for Jamaica. Samuel Chukwueze restored the Eagles’ advantage early in the second half, but Jon Russell equalised again to force a penalty shootout.
Nigeria converted all five of their kicks while Dwayne Atkinson blazed his effort over Stanley Nwabali’s bar, and the Eagles retained the title they had also won in 2002 and 2004 — the only three editions of the tournament held previously.
Chelle, addressing the media, made clear that his squad carries the same winning mentality into Saturday’s encounter.
“Penalties are part of the game, and it can decide who wins a match. Every time I go into a game, I have the mentality to win,” he said.
“This is the culture I have put in these boys — the winning culture. I don’t know if Saturday’s game will end in penalties; what I know is that I have prepared my team to win. These are very young players with a bright future, and they are hungry for success at any level.”
Debutant Femi Azeez, who scored twice against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, has been a particular source of encouragement for the technical crew. He became the first debutant to score two goals for the Nigeria senior team since Mathias Obianika achieved the same feat in a 4-0 win over Burkina Faso 55 years ago.
