Super Eagles captain against South Africa, Ahmed Musa has hailed Porto defender Chidozie Awaziem for his performance at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.

With Abdullahi Shehu suffering an injury in the opener against Burundi, Awaziem, who is predominantly a central defender, has been able to deputise at right-back.

Another young player to have caught Musa's eye is Villarreal's Samuel Chukwueze who opened his international account in the win against Bafana Bafana.

''As you can see Samuel had a fantastic game and he scored a goal. With time he's going to be one of the best players we have in the Super Eagles,'' Musa said in the mixed zone after the victory against South Africa.

''In the next few years we'll not be here, definitely we need players like them to play for the Super Eagles to have more experience.

''For our defender Awaziem, he has had a wonderful tournament, it's not that easy, that's not his main position but he adapted and played very good.

''Today he had a a wonderful game, so I'd say we are coping each game and we don't have to joke.''

The game against South Africa was the tenth played by Chidozie Awaziem since his international debut against Togo on June 1, 2017.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel