Former Nigerian international Mutiu Adepoju has commended Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle for the improved performances of the team at the ongoing AFCON tournament in Morocco, SportPremi reports.
The Super Eagles have been very impressive and dominated all their matches at the 2025 African Cup of Nations tournament and have now progressed to the last four of the competition.
The three-time African champions defeated Algeria 2-0 in a heavyweight quarterfinal matchup on Saturday, in arguably their most dominant performance of the tournament so far.
They scored twice in the second half through Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams and while they could have had more goals in the clash, the Algerians could not even muster an effort on target.
This remarkable upturn has helped the team become the formidable force they used to be, as they head into the final week of the tournament in high spirits.
A lot of the pre-tournament talks was how the Super Eagles would bounce back from disappointment of missing out on the FIFA World Cup later this year.
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Eric Chelle arrived in January 2025 as the country struggled during their qualifying campaign, but helped them to the playoff final, before eventually losing to DR Congo which ended their World Cup hopes.
Nigeria face Morocco next Wednesday in the 2025 AFCON semifinal clash, a tough test of their credentials regarding they will be going up against the host nation.
Adepoju lauds Chelle’s impact at the Super Eagles
Mutiu Adepoju, who was a key member of the famous 1994 AFCON-winning squad for Nigeria has expressed admiration for the great work done by Eric Chelle so far at the tournament in Morocco.
The former Real Sociedad midfielder expressed satisfaction with the team’s new setup, which hs brought the best out of most of the players.
“I want to commend Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle with the tactics he has implemented in the team at the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations, after Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup”, Adepoju revealed.
“Before the tournament, Nigeria was known to set up in 4-3-3 during the qualifiers for the World Cup. However, since the beginning of the tournament, he has deployed a 4-4-2 formation, allowing Ademola Lookman and even Alex Iwobi to play with so much confidence”, he concluded.
Nigeria and Morocco will face-off at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium on Wednesday night, with the winner going on to face either Senegal ot Egypt in the other semifinal clash, in the final on January 18.
