Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has revealed the qualities he admires the most in young goalkeeper Francis Odinaka Uzoho and the coach has also declared that the Super Eagles don’t have goalkeeper issue.
Speaking after the 1-2 friendly loss against England, Rohr played down talks about a goalkeeper crisis in his team ahead of the start of the World Cup in Russia, insisting that his three goalkeepers are up to the task of doing well in Russia.
“I trust our goalkeeper for me we don’t have a problem of goalkeeper. I hear here and then that we have goalkeepers problem but no we don’t have goalkeeper problems”, Rohr said.
“We have three good goalkeepers and now we give the possibility to Francis ( Uzoho) to play because he needs the experience of these big games , playing in Wembley , playing already against Poland there was only 40,000 in attendance but against England it was more and he has the atmosphere of the World Cup already”, the coach explained.
Deportivo La Coruna goalkeeper Francis Odinaka Uzoho who has manned the post in the Super Eagles last four games appears to be the preferred choice in goal for the coach when the World Cup begins.
Rohr revealed that they have invested a lot in keeping him in top shape for the World Cup and went a step further by revealing the one quality he likes the most in the former Nigeria U17 goalkeeper.
“He did very well ( against England) and we are working a lot with him , we sent our goalkeeper coach twice to train him at Deportivo La Coruna to help him on some aspect of his game. He is the third choice at La Coruna but he is doing well with the reserve team and so it’s continuously work . He is quiet , he is tall, he can come out , he is good on the line but he has to work. What I like in him a lot is that he is very humble”, he concluded.
Ade Emmanuel
