Former Nigeria international goalkeeper Ndubuisi Egbo has faulted the manner which head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has handled the crisis rocking the team in the area of goalkeepers.
Egbo who had 12 caps for Nigeria and also attended two Africa Cup of Nations still holds the honour of the only Nigerian coach to have won a title with an European country, when he guided FK Tirana to the Albanian league title three years ago.
Now working as head coach of Kosovo top league side FC Prishtina, the 50 year old coach gave his opinion on the goalkeepers of the Super Eagles team as they prepare to start the qualifiers for the 2026 world cup and also compete in next year Africa Cup of Nations.
With the trio of Francis Uzoho, Adebayo Adeleye and Maduka Okoye not covering themselves in glory when handed a role between the sticks, Egbo said the coach Peseiro hasn’t helped himself by not settling for one of the trio.
“There are many good young goalkeepers and that’s the difficulty facing coaches to pin point one goalkeeper or the other. We have seen the in the past year or two they have used in the national team 3-4 goalkeepers in different matches and in my opinion its not a good thing”, the former Julius Berger shot stopper told Tribalfootball.com.
“For me the goalkeeping department is not like the other departments where you can change players frequently. I think an opportunity should be given to one goalkeeper so he can gain experience playing for the national team. Because playing for the national team is different to playing for a club team. When you play for the national team you have on your shoulders the eyes of the entire population.”
Meanwhile in another related development, Peseiro has confirmed that Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye who returned to the team for the last round of game is back in contention for the Africa Cup of Nations. He made this known in an interview monitored by our editorial team.
When asked during an interview with Sportitalia (via TMW) whether he would take Okoye and Empoli defender Tyronne Ebuehi to the Africa Cup of Nations, the Portuguese gaffer responded: “They belong to the group of players we follow and are part of the list of those we normally call.
“This way, they can participate in any competition the Super Eagles play in.”
Osas Mahawi
