Super Eagles Manager Gernot Rohr says Sparta Rotterdam’s Maduka Okoye is now Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper and he’s expected to be in goal for the upcoming 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign against Lesotho and Benin Republic.
Okoye, who made his debut for Nigeria in 2019 was in goal for the Super Eagles last four matches, including the disappointing 4 – 4 home draw against Sierra Leone.
Before Okoye’s emergence, Francis Uzoho and Daniel Akpeyi have both been handed the position.
At club level, Okoye rose from second choice last November, to become Sparta Rotterdam’s first choice since.
Speaking to ESPN, Rohr said he has decided to stick with the German born goalkeeper as the new number one.
“No. 1 is Maduka,” Rohr told ESPN.
“These decisions, I take them with [goalkeeper coach Alloy Agu] because he is a specialist for goalkeeper training.
“Myself and Alloy, we agreed that it’s actually Maduka. We have the experienced [Daniel Akpeyi] doing good matches with this club in South Africa.
“We have the young [Francis Uzoho] coming back after injury, but he has to play also now not only on the bench. We have also [Matthew Yakubu]. There’s a good potential now because this position was a big problem for us so we have more now,” He concluded.
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