The head of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Shariff Rabiu Inuwa said he confronted the head coach of the Super Eagles Jose Peseiro over his decision to stick with Francis Uzoho as first choice goalkeeper of the team.
Uzoho has been guilty of conceding cheap goals and making costly errors but he still retains the favor of the Portuguese coach, who is seriously under pressure with the Africa Cup of Nations drawing close.
Speaking in a radio interview monitored by OwnGoalNigeria.com, the Kano State FA chairman said he had a heated exchange with the coach at their camp in Portugal, where they played against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.
Ahlan like he is fondly called said he was pushed to demand answers from the coach on why he didn’t try the other three goalkeepers in camp instead stuck with the error prone Uzoho for both games.
He said, “We sat with Peseiro in Lisbon and asked why he invited four goalkeepers and opted to use Uzoho for the two games without trying out others,” he continued.
“Uzoho is second choice in his team and he doesn’t even play not to talk of how he performs. We’ve played several games and he keeps making mistakes so why use him all the time”, he remarked.
Asked on if he is aware of Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu, Ahlan said he saw it in the news and can only recommend to Peseiro who has the final say on calling up players but sadly isn’t interested because he still holds a very strong faith in Uzoho.
Damian Waziri
