The first choice goalkeeper of the senior national team of Nigeria Francis Uzoho says he is sorry for his comments in the wake of criticism over his poor performance for the Super Eagles in their recent friendly games, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Uzoho was roundly criticised for the manner which he conceded four goals in the two games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively, especially the first goal against Saudi Arabia where he turned a harmless ball into his net in attempt to tip it over the bar.

He reacted to the criticism by saying there is a reason why he is seen as a good goalkeeper by Oyibo ( a term for people with white skins). Asking those who think they can to do it if it is easy and get signed.

“If e easy, go do am Make oyibo man sign you!”, The under fire Omonia Nicosia second choice goalkeeper posted on social media platform Snapchat.

In a statement released this evening, he sent his apologies to all who felt alighted by his statement. Below is the text of his statement.

It has come to my attention that my recent Snapchat has not been my best behaviour towards you all as my loyal fans..

I apologise for this as it was not my intention to conduct myself in such manner toward the fans who have supported and motivated me through my career.

My actions were more as a result of frustration stemming from the actions of someone in my circle (will keep the identity private for now).

Accepting criticism is part of my job

and one that I often welcome from the

people who continue to support me. I

accept your criticisms with the utmost

respect and understanding that you all

want me to do better.

I want you all to know that I continue to grow daily as a person and in my career and you all are a vital part of my growth and success. My actions are aimed to reflect this and will continue to do so. IN CHRIST ALONE.

Tottenham Hotspur defender Destiny Udogie was targeted by racist comments following a message of congratulations by his hometown in the wake of his debut for the senior national team of Italy, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Udogie was born to Nigerian parents in Italy and raised in Nogara, on the outskirts of Verona. He was eligible for both countries but decided to pledge his senior international future to Italy, where he was a part of their youth set up.

He made his senior international bow in the 4-0 win against Malta and had his first start in the 1-3 loss. His debut was seen as a thing of pride to the little town of Nogara.

In a post on their official Facebook handle, the Nogara town council celebrated his debut for the senior national team of Italy with a post.  Describing him as one of the heroes of the town.

The message quickly became a target for racist insults terming the 20 year old as a Nigerian and not a real Italian. A post went as far as telling him that he should go back to Nigeria.

The comments left the major of Nogara Flavio Pasini angry forcing him to release a statement, where he said they tracked people who made the comments and found out they are not from the town.

“I want to be clear: we stand against any comments made against the colour of Destiny’s skin. Udogie is from Nogara and it is unacceptable to read certain things said about a young man who was born and raised in my town, who made his dream come true with his debut in the Azzurri jersey.

“I tried to figure out who had written these things and realised those insulting him are not from Nogara, but rushed to our Facebook page to insult a good guy for no reason. He is one of us and we are very proud of him.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The dreams of many Nigerians for the head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro to call a new goalkeeper to the team ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations next year have been dealt a huge blow, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Many names have been suggested as possible upgrade to current first choice Francis Uzoho, who hasn’t shown enough to own the position with errors which has cost the team dearly. Most recently he was at fault for the goals conceded in the friendly games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.

Despite that Peseiro has faith in the Omonia Nicosia goalkeeper believing that his recent errors are due to a lack of confidence and nothing related to his abilities as a goalkeeper. He also feels the pressure to do well out of fear of a backlash from the Nigerian public has also not helped the 24 year old to be at his best.

” A decision has been made already and Uzoho will be the first choice at the AFCON. It is something that is beyond his recent performances. Peseiro sees him as the best among the options we have and feels the recent blunders are related to a confidence crisis while in goal for Nigeria”, a team source told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” Again when you consider that there won’t be space to try a new goalkeeper as from now till the AFCON, all games will be competitive because the World Cup qualifiers and the AFCON will happen between now and the start of next year. You have to agree with Peseiro that there is no urgent need for a new goalkeeper”, he concluded.

Ade Emmanuel

Samuel Chukwueze won’t be a part of the squad of the senior national team of Nigeria when they begin their 2026 world cup qualifiers campaign in November, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chukwueze was part of the Super Eagles team that recently engaged Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively in two international friendly games in readiness for the games in November.

He played for over 60 minutes in the 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia but he wasn’t given a run out in the 3-2 win over Mozambique. It has now been confirmed that injury stopped him from playing in the game two days ago.

According to AC Milan, he picked up a hamstring injury which will keep him out for a month. He will return back to action after the international round of games in November, effectively ruling him out of the Super Eagles games within that period.

For Milan, he will miss the games against Juventus , Napoli , Udinese and Lecce in Serie A, as well as the two matches against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League.

He is expected to return back to action on the 25th of November, when they take on Fiorentina in the Serie A.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has sent a message to underperforming players of the senior national team of Nigeria after their recently friendly games in Portugal, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

In preparation for the start of the qualifiers for the 2026 world cup, the team played two test games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively. The first game ended in a 2-2 draw, they made amends to win the second game 3-2 but it left the coach unhappy.

Aside from back to back errors by goalkeeper Francis Uzoho, the coach also lamented the fact that the team were wasteful in front of goal, and also didn’t show enough concentration when they were 3-1 up against ten man Mozambique.

He has now taken to his social media handle on X to sound a note of warning as he gets set to name his squad for the November round of game. His statement sounds like a message to players to be at their best when they represent the country.

“After another period of training and matches, with the team and staff united, we have reinforced various aspects and identified mistakes to be corrected. The standard for anyone representing the Super Eagles must always be the highest”, he wrote on X.

Raphael Onyedika has played his way into the Super Eagles squad for the delayed 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in January, OwnGoalNigeria.comcan exclusively reveal.

The Club Brugge midfielder was given a chance to stake his claim for a spot in the team during the friendly game against Mozambique and he grabbed the opportunity with two hands.

Playing as one of a midfield two with Brentford’s Frank Onyeka, another player who graduated from the same academy like him in FC Ebedei. Onyedika held his own so well in front of defence and dictated play from deep allowing Onyeka the chance to go further high up the pitch.

A source in the team said his performance has already sealed a spot for him in the next AFCON with head coach Jose Peseiro extremely delighted by his performance. He sees him as a valuable addition to a midfield that is thin on options.

The 22 year old will keep his spot in the team for the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in November when Nigeria takes on Lesotho in Uyo and later Zimbabwe in Harare.

Ade Emmanuel

The crisis rocking the senior national team of Nigeria in the area of goalkeepers has dominated discussions around Nigeria football the past week following the howler by first choice goalkeeper Francis Uzoho in back to back friendly games, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Uzoho made a mess of a cross turning a simple ball into his own net in an attempt to tip it over the bar in the 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia, he followed it up with another error in the 3-2 win over Mozambique as he was caught in no man’s land for the cross that opened scoring in the game.

The situation made Germany based Nigerian journalist Oma Akatugba to suggest the first choice goalkeeper of Germany Bundesliga side Freiburg Noah Atubolu to the Portuguese coach.

Born to a Nigerian father and a German mother, Atubolu has kept goal in all of Freiburg’s seven games of the season and currently boast of three clean sheets. He is yet to be capped by Germany as he has only represented their U21.

It means he is eligible for the senior national team of Nigeria but Peseiro according to Oma has no knowledge of the goalkeeper, he even had to show the coach the profile of the 21 year old on his phone.

He said Peseiro didn’t sound really interested but he will rather go ahead to speak with the shot stopper to pledge his senior future to Nigeria. He made all of this known in a post on X formerly known as Twitter.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

One of the success stories of last season was the way Gift Orban took the Belgium league by storm following his January deadline day move to Gent from second division Norwegian side Stabæk.

Orban wasted no time in making his mark and he ended the season with an astonishing 20 goals in 22 games. His form as expected brought about a rash of interest from top teams around Europe and also a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria.

According to Roger Smet, a journalist who is vast in Belgium football that attention was the start of a dip in form that has seen him score just twice in eight games this season, and also relegated to the bench for some games.

” For sure a lot of people thought Orban will be gone in the summer. His representatives talked of a failed move on transfer deadline day to a Bundesliga side, it lookes as if it was Gent who pulled the plug on the move. That I can say has an effect on his concentration”, Smet told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” When Orban was called up to the senior national team of Nigeria and he didn’t get to play. Some people within the club had a feeling that something went wrong there because he looked distracted and worried upon his return, the frustration led to that red card”, he said.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The first choice goalkeeper of the senior national team of Nigeria Francis Uzoho has fired a shot at critics of his recent performance for the team following his high profile errors in the friendly games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Uzoho in an attempt to tip a harmless free kick over the ball diverted it into his own net in the 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia. Yesterday he misjudged a cross making it easy for Mozambique to score the team rallied back to win 3-2.

As expected his performances attracted criticism back home especially as he appears to be the weak link ahead of the start of the world cup qualifiers and also the Africa Cup of Nations, where they are aiming to go all the way to lifting the trophy.

In what is his sly dig at his critics, Uzoho used pidgin english in saying those thinking it is easy should do it and get signed by a team based in Europe. He used the word “Oyibo” which clearly hands superiority to the whites when it comes to making judgements.

“If e easy, go do am Make oyibo man sign you!”, The under fire Omonia Nicosia second choice goalkeeper posted on social media platform Snapchat.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The first choice goalkeeper of LASK Tobias Lawal, who has been a revelation for the Austria representative in the Europa League says he is still open to the idea of playing for the senior national team of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The 23 year old has established himself as the first choice goalkeeper of LASK with 15 games under his belt, including the Europa League clash against Liverpool where he distinguished himself despite his team losing 3-1.

His form is coming at a time when Nigeria is desperately in need of a reliable shot stopper after two unimpressive displays from Francis Uzoho in the friendly games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.

Lawal trained with the Super Eagles three years ago under former coach Gernot Rohr but wasn’t able to make his debut due to what the erstwhile coach explained had to do with his nationality switch from Austria to Nigeria.

Back then Rohr said for Lawal to be able to represent Nigeria he has to let go off his Austrian passport as the country doesn’t allow dual nationality.

“Tobias Lawal was the man of the match in his last game for LASK, he played already for Austria U2O, a friendly, so he could switch but the problem in Austria,” Rohr said in a press conference in 2020.

“You saw yesterday people from Nigeria’s embassy in Vienna were here and I asked them for the passport for Tobias Lawal, his father is Nigerian and his mother is Austrian, same like [Kevin] Akpoguma in Germany, it’s not the same situation unfortunately in Austria, they don’t give two passports, so if he has a Nigerian passport he must drop the Austrian passport.

“There could be some exception and this is not in our hands to give it, we’ll ask for it if he’s interested. He wanted to come and see how we are working if the group is okay if the atmosphere is good for him”, he rounded up saying.

In an exclusive chat with OwnGoalNigeria.com he said the situation is still the same that despite his wish to play for Nigeria, the process involved makes it almost impossible with the dual nationality policy of Austria, where he was born.

” I trained with the team because I wanted to play for Nigeria but the situation here made it impossible. My desire is still the same but sadly it’s not in my power. It’s so hard to happen, I have to be realistic”, he said.

Osas Mahawi