Former Nigerian international Sunday Oliseh has praised Super Eagles striker Akor Adams for his impressive display against Tanzania in the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Recall that Nigeria defeated Tanzania 2-1 to kick off their campaign on a winning note. Semi Ajayi headed Nigeria in front in the first half before Charles M’Mombwa equalized five minutes after halftime.
The Tanzanians’ joy lasted only two minutes, however, as Lookman fired in what proved to be the winner from outside the box.
Read Also:AFCON 2025: There’s Still Room For Improvement –Ndidi Speaks On Super Eagles Win Against Tanzania
Reacting after the game, Oliseh, who was running the commentary on AfroSports AFCON 2025 Coverage, stated that he’s impressed with the Sevilla striker’s overall performance against Tanzania despite not scoring a goal.
“I’m Impressed with Akor Adams’ performance against Tanzania.
“He was all over the pitch trying to make things happen for the Super Eagles.”
16 Comments
It’s high time you told the world that new star has arrived and not just Victor, Lukmon or Whatever.
You can do it! Up super eagles!!!!
Yes the can
Akor Adams was really impressive. I can’t remember the last time we’vw seen a player that with an overwhelming display in the midfield, wings, and attack. He is well built with great speed and exceptional ball skills. He seems like a combination of Mutiu, Amokachi, and Finidi.
Chelle should stop putting players out of position. Why pay Fisayo from the wings when the same player has delivered two goals in 3 matches when played in the CAM position. He did the same with Akinsamiro, a player that is recognized as one of the best midfielder in Serie A.
I hope he is not thinking of using same slow and inefficient combination of Ndidi , Iwobi, and Chukwueze against the highly technical Carthage lions. The game against will be won from the midfield.
If you are starting Ndidi, highly technical and fast recovering CAM in the mould of Akinsamiro, Fisayo, or Nnadi will be needed.
A word is enough !
Hohoahahaha….so you know playing a player out of position greatly affects the player’s output…….LMAOOooo, yet you go yen yen yen yen about Iwobi all the time when the boy keeps getting deployed to play closer to his own box rather than his opponents’ box.
Tell your super star midfield maestros to also start churning out goals and assists from the unnatural positions where they are being shoved to play in and keep Chelle’s name off your lips.
Okay, let him start the combination of Iwobi, Chukzy, and Ndidi against Tunisia. I won’t be surprised if you come up with your usual assault on Chelle, a coach you never supported and only waiting for him to fail so that you can be vindicated.
Hahahaha…..so It is your akinsanmiro and dele bashiru that will shackle Tunisia to submission abi…. LMAaooo.
You think you can play smart by diverting attention from your hate and unwanted insults towards Iwobi by pulling the “you are waiting for Chelle to fail” card…..Lmaaoo
It is not a matter of who Chelle starts, it’s a matter of how he deploys them and how he manages his gameplay before and during the game.
If he starts your Yoruba boys and deploys them closer to their box rather than closer to the opponent’s box like he deploys Iwobi they will run like headless chickens for 90mins like they did Vs Egypt.
Iwobi delivered 2 exquisite assists Vs Tanzania from positions closer to Tanzania’s box and your oesophagus has been choked like an apple was stuck in it……. LMAO. What a way to serve a hater an humble pie.
So yes….Chelle if he is sensible can deploy Iwobi (once again, closer to our opponents box than ours) and Ndidi, but he should be intelligent to deploy an extra DM who has a high work rate, can graft, mark and win balls efficiently to support them both while making sure Ndidi is not guaranteed 90 mins.
We are playing against a Tunisian team that can run, so if I were to be an intelligent coach he would know he has to cut supplies from their midfield as often and the opportunity presents itself.
After all your yen yen yen yen Iwobi still remains the most creative Nigeria player out there……LMAOoo.
And yes, I can’t wait for Chelle to fail so we get serious with our football……it’s such a sad situation that it’s when we’ve had our best assembly of talents since 1994, and at their peak too, that the NFF chose to employ dunces as SE coaches, from Egauvoen to Finidi to Chelle.
I don’t even need to wait for Chelle to fail, he’s already failed twice before already. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. He’s been coaching this team for 6 months and still can’t get them to play as a team. They still play like they just met themselves in camp last week.
We ain’t going nowhere with him so, brace yourself for his imminent failure
I never knew you had enough common sense to realize playing players out of position affects their play…..LMAOoo.
Chelle must continue to deploy Dele Bashiru in DM and Akinsanmiro as a right winger let’s see whether they will produce goals and assists from unnatural positions like you always demand from Iwobi.
So if you’re the coach you will start Akinsanmiro and Dele Bashiru ahead of Iwobi and Ndidi?Thank goodness we have an unbiased foreigner as coach.
This same mentality is why our youth teams are not performing.I wish we recruit foreigners to run our youth teams both male and female.
Yesterday Iwobi delivered 2 assists, created 6 goal-scoring chances, completed over 90% passing accuracy both short and long passes, and 4 recoveries. Are you saying the coach should change him for Nnadi, Akinsanmiro or Fisayo? Be calming down!
Akor Adams is emerging as one of the most effective forwards to partner with Victor Osimhen. Their combined profiles create a highly complementary and potentially unstoppable attacking duo for Nigeria. Maintaining their partnership is key to maximizing offensive output. With increased confidence and consistent game time, Akor Adams is expected to continue improving and make a significant impact in this competition
Larry, interesting observation about Akor. I was also thinking this guy has the attributes to be a good midfielder, with his ball winning ability. He’s so strong on the ball. He worked hard, tried to make things happen, made those runs, was a total nuisance to Tanzania defenders. He was good yesterday.
Simple Simon! He impressed me yesterday. Positive display from him. He kept it simple, using his pace to get behind the full back and delivering crosses into the box. Dribbling was not working as desired, so he resorted to making simple, sensible passes. He was decent yesterday.
Iwobi ran the midfield like an OGA AT THE TOP. Boss vibes.
Ndidi played his role well, and almost scored with a rasping left footer that created a chance for Chukwueze. A right footed Chuks would have bagged an easy goal, but our dear Chuks has to move the ball to his left first, and by then, the chance was gone. If only this boy would learn to use his right foot! He would be one of the best in the business if he did.
If Chuks is to start games, Chelle should do what Marco Silva does at Fulham. Play Chuks on the left wing. In that role, he is devastating. I don’t know why we keep insisting on using him everywhere except his best position!
Bassey and Ajayi combined well in the center back positions, with Bassey doing the Frederick work of driving forward. Good one from them. What a goal from Ajayi. Lovely header.
Lookman is getting back to his old self. Great news for Nigeria. When LOOKBOY is in form, the team has a potent weapon.
Osimhen hustled and bustled all day. Very unfortunate to have that goal ruled out. Chelle needs to manage him carefully. He’s obviously a very important part of the team, but we can’t overuse him like Peseiro did at the last Afcon. We have to keep him fresh and ready, especially for the most important games.
Overall, decent display from the lads. We could have scored two or more goals in addition to the two we scored. Akor’s header that hit the crossbar, Chuk’s miss that I referred to earlier, Iwobi’s left footer that just missed the top corner after he had meandered his way into the box. On another day, all these would have found twine, and we could have scored 4, 5 or more.
Against Tunisia and other stronger sides, I think we must tweak the setup a little.
Iwobi and Ndidi must have another box to box midfielder alongside them. Onyeka, Onyedika, Akinsanmiro, Dele Bashiru, Nnadi, and Usman Mohammed are the options to select from.
An Iwobi-Ndidi Combo might work against Tanzania, but against better opponents, we’ll be asking for trouble if we do that.
With an extra man in the middle, 3 forwards and the back four we saw against Tanzania, we should give Tunisia a good game. I hope Sanusi gets back to his usual self. The Sanusi we saw yesterday was below par. He can do much better than that.
On to the next one.
Thanks Pompei, glad that you referenced the imbalance in the midfield combo. Iwobi did well with attacking play but still lacking in marking, control under pressure and ball recovery. A CAM with these attributes will provide tge balance for Ndidi in midfield. Iwobi can get more access to attack. This should be obvious.
As much as i agree with u that against certain teams we should play a 433 and deploy an Iwobi-Ndidi and another box to box midfielder in Onyeka or Onyedika or Usman or Akinsanmiro or Nnadi. The only problem is that you lose your wing play when a Chukwueze is not playing. The role Chukwueze played yesterday can’t be understated. He often drifts to d midfield to provide an extra body in the middle of the park, he then goes to the right wing to widen d field, provide outlet for osayi while still supporting osayi defensively. If we play a 3 man midfield and an attack with Akor-Osihmen-Lookman, will Lookman still play that #10 role which he was exceptional at against Tanzania knowing we have Akor-Osihmen as the two strikers. Nobody in dat team other than maybe Ejuke can bring what Chukwueze brings to that team without sacrificing the right wing. The coach has tried deploying Onyeka there (game against DRC), ok maybe Iwobi might thrive there but u know tracking back, speed, goalscoring threat and tackling isn’t Iwobi’s forte. Me personally, i will start same line up with d exception of Sanusi (i will replace him with Ryan d new boy). Chukwueze just needs to release d ball quicker and shoot more rather than dwelling too long on d ball. Most if his decisions were good, he was an outlet on numerous occasions, providing options for Ndidi and Iwobi whike still carrying the ball progressively forward. Just my tot
The coach should just stop playing players out of their natural position.
You don’t need anybody to tell you this Mr Coach.
Every Nigerian fan want to be SE coach- some out of passion, and a few negativity spinners out of malice and hatred!
Fulham Coach Marco Silver deploys Iwobi in various positions from Defensive midfielder to CAM and other times Right Winger depending on the opposition in the EPL. Nobody complains and Iwobi has always obliged and have been mostly effective for Fulham in all such roles.
But Chelle is called a “Tuareg,” herdsman or other funny names by pessimists posing as football “analyst s” on CS, when he deploys Iwobi or other players for specific roles that he feels Iwobi and others so deployed need to play in.
I have been impressed with Chelles’ structure and formation of the SE since he took over as the head coach and, outside the inconsequential Egypt friendly he has been equal to the task and yet to suffer any loss in Regulation time- not even against Russia, ranked higher than SE.
Leave Chelle to do his job; he is the only one been paid to do tje SE coaching job- not nay sayers and dark cloud spinning elements, desperate to see him fail. The SE Eagles players appear very happy with their gaffer and he has brought some structure and respect to SE after the failure of Paseiro and Finidi cost us the World Cup ticket.
Tony K, you make valid points. Indeed, Finidi and Peseiro’s poor points they procured from thier games killed our world cup ambitions.
These coaches have indirectly claimed that absence of Osihmen was to be blamed: rubbish.
For Peseiro, Osihmen failed to score in 3 back-to-back qualifiers against Rwanda, South Africa and Lesotho in September and October this year.
Now, without Osihmen finding the back of the net in those 3 games, Nigeria won 2, drew 1, lost zero. So, when Osihmen was minus-1 on the pitch, when Osihmen was having an off day, when Osihmen was not finding the back of the net in qualifying matches, Chelle still found a way to win, draw and not lose.
Without Osihmen, Peseiro didn’t win any, without Osihmen, Finidi lost one, without Osihmen scoring, Chelle won, drew and didn’t lose.
Even in high profile, high pressure friendlies against Ghana, Jamaica and Russia, Chelle won 1, drew 2 and scored goals without Osihmen.
So, I don’t but these arguments being made on behalf of Peseiro and Finidi that they didn’t benefit from Osihmen.
If Chelle can milk goals out of mediocre strikers and unlikely midfielders like Akor Adams, Tolu Arokodare and Frank Onyeka, what stopped Peseiro and Finidi from milking out goals from Iheanacho, Awoniyi, Boniface, Aribo and the likes?
In all the world cup qualifiers that Chelle played, Osihmen scored in 50% of the matches whilst the other players chipped in goals in the remaining 50%.
Had Onyeka, Ekong, Sanusi, Arokodare and others not chipped in crucial goals in crucial matches, Nigeria would never have qualified for the playoffs under Chelle.
Even in the first Playoff against Gabon, Osihmen (who missed a sitter in the dying minutes of regulation time) only came alive in extra time after Akor delivered the goods in 90 minutes.
Osihmen played his part in Chelle’s respectable Super Eagles stats, no doubt. But so did Adams, Arokodare and others.
It is laughable for Finidi and Peseiro to say only Osihmen gave Chelle good wins and draws Super Eagles world cup qualifiers record.
Without Osihmen, Peseiro and Finidi won 0 in 2 matches each in the qualifiers. Without Osihmen scoring, Peseiro won 2 out of 3 of the same qualifiers.
Corrections:
1. Third paragraph should read: For Chelle, Osihmen failed to score in 3 back-to-back qualifiers against Rwanda, South Africa and Lesotho in September and October this year.
2. Last paragraph should read: Without Osihmen, Peseiro and Finidi won 0 in 2 matches each in the qualifiers. Without Osihmen scoring, Chelle won 2 out of 3 of the same qualifiers.