Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has defended his decision to allow Samuel Chukwueze to kick a penalty in Nigeria’s shootout loss to Morocco in their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semifinal clash in Rabat on Wednesday.
He called the Fulham winger—who eventually missed his kick during the shootout—the best penalty taker on the team, claiming that the 26-year-old never missed one kick out of over 400 attempts during training.
“You know, Samuel (Chukwueze) is the best penalty kicker on the team. He never missed a penalty during maybe 400 practices. So, like the captain (Wilfred Ndidi), penalty sessions in training are not the same as they are in a game,” Chelle told reporters during the pre-match press conference ahead of the third-place match against Egypt on Saturday.
He added, “Even when you bring the players around and you ask who wants to kick or you have to kick, the feeling is not the same when they walk up to play the penalty.”
Chelle emphasised that his squad practised penalties at every training session during the tournament.
“I can tell you for sure that the players practiced penalties in all of the training sessions in this competition. So, we did some statistics about that, and for the penalty session, I did some substitutions because Victor (Osimhen) had a problem with his ankle. So I put Paul (Onuachu) because he kicks well,” the 48-year-old stated.
Meanwhile, Ndidi also backed up the coach’s position, adding that a penalty shootout is about players who are comfortable taking kicks rather than forcing certain individuals who are not confident enough to step up.
