The Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, on Monday, defended the appointment of Eric Chelle as the new coach of the Super Eagles.

Dikko, who was a guest on Channels Television?s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme, said Chelle proved himself as an exceptional coach, especially with the Malian Eagles.

The sports commission boss said as the coach of the Malian side, Chelle defeated the Super Eagles in a friendly match. He said Chelle has a good understanding of African football and is fit for the job.

Last Tuesday, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) named Chelle as the new coach of Nigeria?s senior men?s national team, making him the third man to take charge of the team since the exit of Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro.

Many Nigerian sports lovers have been outraged by the announcement, flaying the football body of ?descending low? to recruit a former Malian coach to resume the Eagles? top job which they claimed could have been given to Nigerian coaches.

However, Dikko said the uproar generated with the appointment of the new coach ?is normal, there was never a coach that has been appointed in Nigeria that people do not complain? about because every lover of football in Nigeria is a coach and his or her idea of who a coach should be.

The sports commission said, ?We have a World Cup qualifier that is very dicey, very critical. We have three windows to play the qualifiers, there is no window for a friendly match, there is no window for a test match and we are playing, for goodness sake, African countries ? we are playing Zimbabwe, Rwanda, South Africa, Lesotho and Benin. Those are co-African countries.

?So, the only person that can come at this moment if we want to get somebody that can bring fresh thinking to the team and lead the team is somebody with the experience of African football and this coach, you should judge him with the work he has done with the national team. Forget about the club, club football is different, national team is different.

?What is the foundation of the work he has done with the national team, what is the success rate? Eric was a coach of Mali and when he coached Mali, he made Mali a very strong team that everybody was afraid to play ? they even defeated Nigeria in a friendly match, defeated South Africa in a friendly match, and totally, he played 22 games with Mali, won 14, draw 5, and only lost three and that shows credibility with what he is doing with the national team.

?The World Cup qualifiers that we are having, we all have to outscore our opponents, Eric, with Mali, in those 22 matches scored over 40 goals, he conceded only about 12 goals.

?So, you can see the philosophy, he is also defending well and he is scoring very well. He was able to outscore his opponents. Even in the last AFCON, he lost by the miracle of the last minute by a mistake. It?s normal like that but he came with that credibility and that is the fact that he came with a new thinking to the team.?

?There are no friendly matches, it is straight to the match and it is only somebody with experience of African football,? Dikko stressed, adding that even if star football managers Jos? Mourinho and Alex Ferguson are recruited to coach the Super Eagles, they would need time to understand the team and there is no luxury of time. (Channels TV: Text, Excluding Headline)

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