Former captain and star of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Okocha says Udinese first choice goalkeeper Maduka Okoye is still the best goalkeeper for the Super Eagles, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Okoye who is now the first choice at Udinese hasn’t played for Nigeria since the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021, where he was largely blamed for the goal that Nigeria conceded in the knock out games against Tunisia.
The goal sent the Super Eagles out of the tournament and it led to barrage of criticism at the German born shot stopper, and since then he hasn’t added to his 16 caps for the senior national team of Nigeria.
He was named in the provisional list of players for the tournament but he turned it down with sources close to him saying he isn’t in the right frame mentally to make a return to the team, after the insults including death threats that he suffered in the wake of that error.
Reacting to his exclusion from the team and with the lack of faith in Francis Uzoho, who took his spot as the first choice goalkeeper due to his error prone display in recent games. Okocha felt Nigeria isn’t going to the tournament with the best goalkeeper available to the team.
“The way he has been treated since AFCON2021, after that fateful Tunisia game, leading to his exclusion from the Eagles, is a mistake. “He is the one keeper that has the type of training and football upbringing that we need in a goalkeeper in the national team. But he is excluded. It’s strange,” Okocha said in a chat in Cote d’Ivoire with veteran Nigerian journalist Osasu Obayiuwuna.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
