Could Eric Chelle Have Achieved Decent Results Without Victor Osihmen?

Long may the warm and effective working relationship that Eric Chelle has with the irrepressible megastar striker Victor Osihmen continue.

I just came off watching an "HITC Sevens' " documentary entitled "The Shocking Downfall of Nigeria's National Team" on YouTube which made for an interesting, absorbing and entertaining viewing.

I highly recommend checking it out.

As a Nigerian, it was nice to see the creator of that documentary take me down memory lane of greatness for the Super Eagles, pointing the blame of the current decline squarely at the doorstep of the NFF, whilst also acknowledging the dire socioeconomic/political backdrop.

Nothing he said was new, but something he mentioned peaked my curiosity.

He partly attributed the favourable but brief Indian Summer experienced by Nigeria in the second half of this qualification campaign largely to the availability of one Victor Osihmen.

So, Was Eric Chelle just lucky to have at his disposal, a game changer that Finidi and Peseiro did not have?

Well, I think that analysis is half baked as it provides just one side of a complex and complicated coin.

You see, Victor Osihmen is a complex and complicated character. He wants to do one thing: score, score, score! And he demands one thing from his coaches (be it Napoli or Nigeria): Respect, respect, respect!

Peseiro and Finidi failed spectacularly to achieve these two elements in their interactions with Osihmen.

Peseiro, earned his respect, but was unable to fashion out a formation that would transform Osihmen to a goal scoring juggernaut in the last Afcon.

Many fans, to this day, never forgave Peseiro for underutilizing Osihmen's goals scoring prowess in the last Afcon, reducing this superstar to a lamantable team member who pulled his weight, weighed in good passes, passing up the opportunity to shine to Ekong who became Player of the Tournament.

Finidi, well Finidi failed to gain the respect of Osihmen, leading to an almighty ugly and distasteful burst up that splashed across the front pages of global newspapers, becoming a cause celebre for many a podcasts.

But not Eric Chelle.

Yes, Osihmen was available to him, on and off the pitch, the Malian still had to dictate a goal scoring tune out of Osihmen which was achieved by world class man-management technique and a cutting edge formation that allowed Osihmen to shine in doing what he does best: score goals.

I went back to the first 4 world cup qualifiers played by Peseiro and Finidi and I was stunned, nearly falling off my seat at the calibre of strikers/forwards they used to prosecute those matches: Awoniyi, Boniface, Lookman, Iheanacho, Moffi, Aribo, Sadiq Umar, Nathan Tella, and Onuachu. Talk less of goalscoring midfielders like Dele-Bashiru, Rafael Onyedika.

There is grounds for a fertile argument that, with that sort of quality in depth, coupled with his man management skills and progressive formation, Chelle, if he did not have the services of Osihmen, could still have done as well as he has done.

After all, this is a coach that got 2 goals out a poor striker like Tolu Arokodare who is nowhere near the calibre of strikers used by Peseiro and Finidi in the first 4 world cup qualifiers.

Additionally, against Ghana, Jamaica and Russia in high stakes, high profile friendlies, Chelle's Super Eagles extracted 7 points out of 9, losing zero games and scoring 5 beautiful goals, all in the absence of one Victor Osihmen, further cementing Chelle's exemplary man-management methods and the fact that Osihmen or any other striker is highly dispensable if push comes to shove.

Mention must also be made of how Chelle got Super Eagles fans believing in Cyriel Dessers' scoring abilities again, after many had written him off, proving once again that Chelle can get a goal scoring tune out of several strikers.

Also, Peseiro and Finidi were not (always and consistently) able to convert Frank Onyeka into the credible goal scorer that he is slowly becoming under Eric Chelle.

So, whilst I actually agree with HITC Sevens' assertion on YouTube that Osihmen played a huge role in Chelle's decent results, Chelle still has to be credited for 2 things: 1. Managing his relationship with Osihmen effectively on and off the pitch, and 2) Extracting a goal scoring gem out of Osihmen.

Something both Peseiro and Finidi failed to achieve in tandem concurrently.