Nigeria need to disregard outside noise and stay focused on their Africa Cup of Nations campaign after missing out on qualifying for next year's World Cup, coach Eric Chelle said on Monday.
The Super Eagles face Tanzania in their opening Group C game on Tuesday, and the Malian coach urged his players to put behind them the disappointment of failing to reach the World Cup playoffs following defeat by the Democratic Republic of Congo in November.
Eric Chelle declares readiness for #NGATAN pic.twitter.com/zETzsv5tJg
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"We prefer to stay focused at all times. I told the players to concentrate on themselves and on our development project. This is the most important thing we have," Chelle told a press conference.
"We are our first opponent, we need to focus on ourselves and take out outside noise. Of course, the World Cup miss is painful".
Earlier in the day, Coach Eric Chelle and Captain Wilfred Ndidi spoke to the press ahead of #NGATAN. pic.twitter.com/lVphYtMxH2
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"We are here to win this first game. We have a tournament to play and we are here to be ambitious. I don’t have time to think about what happened before. I prefer to stay focused on what is happening right now," he added.
Nigeria are struggling in defence due to injuries and the retirement of veteran William Troost-Ekong before the AFCON, but the 48-year-old coach expressed full confidence in his squad.
The 2023 Nations Cup runners-up will also play Tunisia on 27 December and Uganda three days later in the group stage.