Nigeria manager Eric Chelle was cautious in his assessment of Femi Azeez's performance following the Super Eagles' 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe in the Unity Cup semifinal at The Valley on Tuesday night.
Playing in the Ademola Lookman role, the Millwall dazzler was the star of the show, scoring a decisive brace on his debut to inspire victory over the Warriors.
While Azeez has received widespread praise for his impressive display, Chelle has highlighted an aspect of his game that still requires improvement.
Chelle explained that his primary expectation from the team was high intensity and consistent pressing throughout the match, noting that this was not fully achieved over the 90 minutes.
"The first objective was that they were supposed to run a lot today. It was my first objective, this is what I asked them," Chelle told reporters at the post-match press conference.
"The second thing was to make a high pressure, and during ninety minutes they did not."
Turning his attention specifically to Azeez, the Super Eagles coach offered a mixed assessment, praising his output while also pointing out technical flaws in his play.
"So we have to analyse particularly the performance of Azeez. Also he scored two goals, congratulations. But technically, he lost a lot of balls, so I’m not happy. He got many balls back but sometimes he didn’t get the balls, so I’m not happy."
Despite his criticism, Chelle indicated that he will make a decision regarding Azeez's involvement in the upcoming fixtures against Poland and Portugal in June.
"But for the first time, we can say 'Congratulations Azeez'. And we will see after. If I wake up with a good state of mind, and I want him in the team for the Portugal and Poland games, I'll say yes, but if I don't want I will say no."
Born in London, Azeez remains eligible to represent the national teams of England and Spain despite his debut for three-time African champions Nigeria.
Ifeanyi Emmanuel
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