AFCON 2025: Nwabali has been on holiday — Sunday Oliseh hails Super Eagles rock-solid defence

The Super Eagles have enjoyed an excellent AFCON 2025, winning all 5 games, scoring 14 goals and conceding just 4.

Eric Chelle's men have now kept consecutive clean sheets, against Mozambique, and Algeria as the defence grows stronger.

For Oliseh, this solidity is a testament to the understanding that starts from the front but is anchored by a rapidly improving center-back pairing.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the 1994 AFCON winner singled out Calvin Bassey as the breakout star of the Nigerian defense, noting his impressive partnership with Semi Ajayi.

“Nwabali has been on holiday. That tells you how good our defensive network has been,” Oliseh remarked.

“Look at the two central defenders. A player nobody has been talking about that is impressing me so much is Calvin Bassey.

"My God, this boy has totally grown in confidence. He is a rock. You throw everything at this man, he would handle it. He is well complimented with Ajayi in the middle.

"Every team, you need good strikers to be able to finish up, but nothing makes you win titles better than your defense and your midfield,” he added.

Meanwhile, Oliseh believes Nigeria must rely on their most important player Ademola Lookman, praising the Atalanta forward for consistently driving the team forward.

“The player that I think is our most important player has been Lookman. This boy has made it difficult,” Oliseh stated.

“In fact, there was a game I did statistics on him, the game against Mozambique, Lookman almost never passes one ball backward. This is one of the most difficult things to do. He is always driving forward.”