Two-time bronze medallist at the Africa Cup of Nations, Dele Aiyenugba, believes it is too late to build the confidence of home-based goalkeepers to become Nigeria’s first choice at the 2023 AFCON which will hold from January 13 to February 11 in Ivory Coast, The PUNCH reports.
Nigeria’s goalkeeping problems have escalated recently with fans and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation questioning the head coach Jose Peseiro, on his preference for the off-form Francis Uzoho, despite his glaring blunders.
Uzoho has been under fire from Nigerians after his error during the ill-fated 2022 World Cup qualifier match against Ghana in Abuja and hasn’t covered himself in glory recently. His compatriot and Udinese keeper, Maduka Okoye has also had his fair share of blames for errors as well.
In the wake of Uzoho and Maduka’s criticisms, goalkeepers in the Nigeria Premier Football League; Amas Obasogie of Bendel Insurance, Kingdom Osayi of Doma United, Olorunleke Ojo of Enyimba and Victor Sochima of Rivers United have been touted for a chance in the men’s national team.
Among the favoured home-based options, only Osayi has not been invited to the team while the rest didn’t get any minutes for the Eagles during their invitations to the team.
With 37 days to the tournament, Aiyenugba who was part of Nigeria’s squad in 2006, 2008 and 2010 feels the assignment of being the first choice will be too much to handle by the home-based keepers.
“The thing is that during our time, we were given the chance early to build our confidence. We had the home-based national team side then and we played a number of friendly matches. So, you start to gain confidence from there and you start to understand that it is different from the club side,” Aiyenugba told The PUNCH.
“To me, it’s kind of late to do that. The Nations Cup is barely a month and half away. So, how do you groom a goalkeeper for that kind of assignment within that time? You keep inviting them (home-based keepers) and not trying them and you need a new goalkeeper. How many friendlies can they play now? So, I don’t know how they will do that.”
Aiyenugba, however, maintained that the home-based keepers must be invited to camp ahead of the tournament.
“This is the national team, it’s different from the club side and to keep for the national team, you must be 100 per cent ready physically and mentally because you are bound to make mistakes. But it matters how you can overcome that and keep moving forward,” the Kwara United goalkeeper added.
Nigeria’s provisional list for the tournament is expected to be submitted to CAF December 14 while the final squad list will be released days before the start of the tournament.
