Super Eagles head coach Éric Chelle has congratulated Man of the Match Femi Azeez on his goal-scoring debut, while also pointing out some aspects of the Millwall winger’s game that need improvement.
Chelle made a dream debut for the Super Eagles, scoring twice in the 2-0 Unity Cup semi-final victory over the Warriors of Zimbabwe at the Valley on Tuesday.
The Millwall winger opened scoring in the fifth minute after he was set up by Terem Moffi.
Moffi also set up Azeez for Nigeria’s second two minutes after the hour the hour mark.
Chelle On Azeez
“He scored two goals, I congratulate him, but he lost a lot of balls, so not happy with him even though he recovered some of these balls,” Eric Chelle said at the post-match media briefing.
Read Also:Unity Cup: Super Eagles Must Improve Despite Zimbabwe Victory — Chelle
“I also asked them to do the high pressing for the whole 90 minutes.”
On Super Eagles Performance
The coach also praised his experimental side for “playing like a team that had been together for six months or even a year,” insisting they fully deserved the victory.
“It was not easy for some of the players to play for the first time against a strong team like Zimbabwe,” he added.
“But this is a friendly not a World Cup or AFCON qualifier.
“All the same we deserved our victory and i am happy for the result.”
By Adeboye Amosu
5 Comments
He needs to work on that if thats true…..
I didn”t watch the match in full tho….
But from the little glimpses, I see that osaze odemwingie spark and sharpness in him…
And the rest of you nigerians needs to understand just like chelle pointed out…..
This is just like a friendly game……
So all this noise of oboy this boys dey ball….
Oboy we don discover our next number 10 does not really hold water…..
The unity cup is just a four nation and four days tournament….
So It is really ridiculous and laughable to say Nigeria has discovered the “mesmerizing jay jay okocha” in just four days….
I mean in a four days, four nation friendly tournaments, you have discovered a whole jay jay okocha….
Lolz….
Lets see these guys play or give them few minutes against more serious teams and tournaments…..
Azeez indeed made some rookie mistakes. Lost possession a few times, made some poor decisions.
That’s to be expected on a debut. He should listen to coachie and work on his lapses.
BTW, just saw the highlights again.
PHILIP OTELE!
That dude is such a baller, I think I will start calling him BALLERJI (Bolaji), loool.
See skills, effortless skills. And good crosses into the box.
Otele disturbed the heck out of the Zim right back for the day. In fact, other ZIm players had to come around to assist the poor right back, but to no avail. Otele just dey meander thru all of dem.
Very impressive display.
I think the coach criticism was based on wanting more from a player that could give more and easily integrate into his match plan..
Which Otele? I’m not sure if its the same match.. Otele made lots of mistakes in the first half hr.
He ran faster than the ball, poor decision making at time, and found it difficult to go past his marker.
Tijani was covering the left flank and the middle because Otele failed in tracking back. Though, I praised him for his attacking instincts after the first 30 mins..
Otele found it difficult to go past his marker?
We must have watched different games.
In the game I saw, Otele looked dangerous. Inventive, full of tricks, combined well with others around him. See the build up to the second goal as an example. He performed well, he just needs to add end product.
Indeed, he should work on tracking back more. But most wingers have that problem. He carried out his offensive duties with aplomb, in my opinion.
It was in this same unity cup last year Chelle unleashed Frederick Benjamin to the world and the rest is history. Azeez is still a raw talent, I remembered Michael Olise when he was still at Reading FC before he turned into this sweet product today everybody is admiring. Had it been we invited him to the super Eagles before he moved to Crystal palace, we would be singing Oyoyo. Finding them raw now with this type of competition is good for us. Finding them while still at championship is equally excellent because if they go to premiership club side tomorrow and becomes another version of Olise or Saka, we can’t get them again.