Solving Nigeria's Super Eagles Goalkeeping Wahala*!

The Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles have at different times been fortunate with very good goalkeepers such as Emmanuel Okala, Best Ogedegbe, Peter Rufai, Aloy Agu, Wilfred Agbonavbare, Ike Shorounmu, Vincent Enyeama, et al but since after the unfortunate circumstances that led to the exit of the mercurial goalkeeper Austin Enyeama, Nigerian football fans have endured the nightmare of several goalkeeping mediocrities.  Just to remember a little exception of some few matches when Carl Ikeme of English Premier League club, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC provided some respite before health-related issues cut short his career. The football world is awash with very talented Nigerian footballers in all positions, except goalkeeping!

 

Several Pretenders After Enyeama's Exit

After Ikeme’s exit, fans have endured the uninspiring performances of Daniel Akpeyi (now retired?), Francis Uzoho, Maduka Okoye, and listless other invitees. What is evident in these men appear similar and makes it difficult to still repose trust in their capabilities. These keepers lack confidence and have not been able to raise their game beyond the little flashes that instigated the trust that got them to the limelight. This assessment is corroborated by their club performances where they enjoy peripheral roles. When Francis Uzoho dazzled everyone last year, during his team's Europa League campaign against Manchester United FC, it got tongues wagging and aroused the optimism that this could raise him to better consistency. Former Manchester United Star affirmed as much but alas it ended as a futile dream.  Maduka Okoye has been elusive since after being blamed for the goal at the 2022 CAF African Nations Cup, second-round match when we lost one nil to Tunisia.

 

Why The Lack of Reliable Keepers?

Unless some disconcerting events abound within the Super Eagles coaching setup, it remains unexplainable how Nigeria still suffers this goalkeeping wahala, whilst several other African keepers, such as Yassin Bonou (Morocco), Eduard Mendy (Senegal), Andre Onana (Cameroon), Mbohi (Algeria) et al continue to distinguish themselves in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The needful must be done to immediately solve this problem and it remains inconceivable why the Super Eagles cannot have goalkeepers at the level of these mentioned names.

Building Trust

The solution to solving the goalkeeping conundrum remains in building trust and exposing the opportunity beyond the current keepers, who obviously are not the best we have. We must focus on the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) and give ample opportunity to the NPFL keepers, since the available foreign-based options so far identified, have been awful. Football is a global sport with the same rules across the World and little distinguishes the foreign and locally based footballers, as highlighted here by Dutch coach Clemence Westerhof:

‘’The only advantage the foreign players have over the home-based is that the former are more professional minded. They keep in better condition because they know they can easily lose their places in their clubs in Europe if they don’t train hard enough’’.

 

Times have changed and the NPFL players are more focused and proficient because their ultimate ambition is to join a foreign-based club and improve their financial and professional status. The grass-to-grace stories of Kelechi Ihenacho, Victor Osimhen, Victor Boniface, and Gift Orban who emerged from Nigerian football environments without even playing in the NPFL, validate this assertion about the quality of (suppressed talents) players that abound within Nigeria.

 

Several other keepers, such as Bendel Insurance FC, Amas Obasogie, Remo Stars FC Kayode Bankole, and Hapoel Jerusalem FC Adebayo Adeleye are tested first-choice keepers in their teams and consistently showcase their qualities. Their competence makes one wonder why they’re never invited and even when invited are given a cold shoulder to the benefits of the current error-prone keepers. This obviously cannot be based on sporting or performance-based factors. Give them the opportunity and they’d outshine the current goalkeepers and also enhance their opportunities of getting into better foreign football leagues.

The goalkeeping department needs to help instill confidence in our goalkeepers since this is the greatest attribute a keeper needs to reassure the rest of the players. A timid keeper unsettles the entire team!

Note: Wahala Synonym: It connotes something alarming, disturbing, upsetting issues