Super Eagles assistant coach, Emmanuel Amuneke has revealed that Maduka Okoye remains Nigeria’s number one goalkeeper ahead of the forthcoming 2022 World Cup qualifying playoff against the Black Stars of Ghana later this month.
Recall that Ghana will host the first leg in Kumasi on March 25 and the reverse fixture will be played at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on March 29.
However, with concern over the team’s goalkeeping department, Amuneke in an interview with Brila FM said that the technical crew have so much confidence in Okoye.
“I’m not a goalkeeper trainer, but we have someone in that department, which is Alloy Agu.
“Regardless, Maduka Okoye is a good goalkeeper and human being, so we can’t because of one mistake dump (him).
“He’s playing for his team (Sparta), and that’s the most important thing.”
26 Comments
No doubt he is good.
If not for the OVERRATED NDIDI and AINA, that mistake wouldn’t have happened…
You are a lunatic for calling them overrated. Ndidi is atleast on of the top 3 DM in Africa and Aina was one of our best players at the Afcon. I’m beginning to think you live here and you have mental health issues..
I wonder how you feel calling someone else a lunatic for his own personal opinion. I just cannot understand it. His own opinion oh, then you have to call him a lunatic? You guys on this forum, sometimes I wonder what planet you guys come from. Na wah!
He’s not wrong. Only a Lunatic will call Ndidi overrated. African Players are not overrated,they either underate you, or rate you according to what you give
LMFAO!
MAL-NUTRISH NATIVE NATIVE FOWL
How about using your original I.D to drop a comment. LMFAO!
No be only Me. You go soon change to We LMFAO!!
A WORLD CLASS DM will not give the Tunisian player much time and space to shoot from distance..
Again NDIDI is overrated.
F**king AVERAGE
LMFAO!!!
LMFAO! Who is this UNVACCINATED COW watching football with sentiment?
LMFAO! Is your NDIDI in the same ranking as WORLD CLASS DM KANTE?
JOSHUA KIMMICH(BEYERN) not even up to
RODRI(MAN CITY)
CASEMIRO(REAL MADRID)
If you can’t rub shoulder with these “world class” DM then you are an average DM mildfielder who is just being overhyped..
How many good DM do we even have in Africa aside NDIDI?
2, 3, so why won’t your NDIDI be a KING amongst them.. LMFAO!
You BOOFHEAD! Spare me that African ranking shit! LMFAO!!
You are the reason why Africa is backward.
We talking about world class here
YAYA TOURE from Africa(Ivory Coast) during his days can match any of the DM I mentioned above!
Surely,you are the “lunatic” here.Having responded to the write is an abominable and sick manner,proof of a lesser minded character like you are.
Ndidi isn’t overrated, I know the only reason you are supporting Okoye is because Rhor invited him to play for Nigeria, not because you generally like him, after his mistake at afcon you didn’t defended him only happy that we left at the round of 16
That’s not the reason bro.
There times where I have defended NDIDI in this forum.
But sometimes we need to call a spade a spade and not tea spoon.
@OG Thanks.
My sincere apologies for replying that dude in his own coin.
I should have just kept mute or do so in a more mature and civilize manner.
But some of them can just be going about this forum, displaying their agbero lifestyle on people’s own opinion..
I thought Amuneke is Head Coach and Eguavoen is Technical Adviser? Wondering why he is called assistant coach in the write up?
Nigeria’s goalkeeping department is truly in dire straits. It is understandable why the national team handlers will want to stick with Okoye. In fact, I very much respect what Amuneke said in the article above.
“Regardless, Maduka Okoye is a good goalkeeper and human being, so we can’t because of one mistake dump (him).” Said the Atlanta ’96 Olympian.
Which is so true. Maduka Okoye is a consummate professional who handles himself with dignity and respect in Nigeria colours. What is most salient about Amuneke’s statement was what he said next.
“He’s playing for his team (Sparta), and that’s the most important thing.” Amuneke emphasised.
Therein lies the problem. It is virtually inconceivable for the only Nigerian goalkeeper playing week in week out in a main European league to be dropped for bench warmers of backwater leagues.
Okay, calling Cyprus, Croatian, Israel and South African leagues backwater is a tad disrespectful on my part but none of them is on the same league with the Dutch Eredivisie.
As if that is not bad enough, Nigerian goalkeepers registered in these leagues are rooted to their clubs’ benches.
Maduka Okoye has a long way to go. At this moment, he really should not be the first choice goalkeeper of Nigeria but we have little to no opinion elsewhere.
Any video analysts studying Nigeria’s games will easily identify the Super Eagles goalkeeping department as one of its achilles heel.
Okoye’s proclivity to indecision, underdeveloped low diving technique, fidgeting demeanour, response time and questionable starting position make him a potential ticking bomb.
But, if truth be told, the Düsseldorf born Ibo net minder has shown signs of steady improvements of late. Whilst playing in a relegation threatened club in not sexy, the demands playing for Sparta Rotterdam is placing on Okoye is helping him strengthen his resilience and in building his confidence.
His defensive redoubt in Rotterdam is not the most strongest, hence he is exposed to a barrage of shots flying from every corner all the time he takes to the pitch for league matches.
This augurs well for his goalkeeping development and should help whet his skills whilst also putting him in the right competitive frame of mind for the Ghana clash later this month.
But the jury is still out though.
I understand why it would be ill-advised to consider any other goalkeepers for the Super Eagles number one slot for the Ghana derby. But immediately afterwards, the hunt must begin for a glut of options in Nigeria’s goalkeeping department.
I feel no compunction in saying that we are witnessing a full blown goalkeeping crisis in the Super Eagles. For us to be pinning all our hopes on an evolving, metamorphosing
goalkeeper, who is still in process of transforming from a tadpole to a full grown frog, is deeply troubling.
Akpeyi was never a fan favourite, Uzoho is now neither here nor there, Adeleye is buckling under the weight of top tier football while Yakubu cannot keep himself out of a paper bag in Croatia.
The whole thing is just perplexing.
I did write in favour of looking at the direction of homebased goalkeepers recently but this will be a risky move. The NPFL is not the most professionally run league. Moreover, you get the sense that the Super Eagles goalkeeper should ideally be foreign based.
But in foreign lands, our goalkeepers are currently not finding any joy, and the question is: why?
I’m surprised that those who insulted Rohr for saying that Okoye is Nigeria’s no. 1 goalkeeper have now lost their voices. It’s not the duty of the SE coach to discover young talents, that’s left to the age group coaches. Amuneke, Aigbogum, Eguavoen have all had the opportunities of discovering great GKs for us but we can all see how well they have performed in that respect. The same Adeleye that was touted as being far better than Okoye is now having playtime hard to get. Uzoho is in the cooler in lowly Cypriot league. Best of luck to them in Kumasi.just hoping that Egu will get his tactics right so that the disaster that the NFF said they were trying to avert in Dec will not become full blown by March ending.
There goes Nigeria world cup dreams.
One takeaway from this interview of Amunike is that, the technical crew are unanimously agreed that Okoye was the fault in the nations cup goal against Tunisia. I think this lays to rest the argument of who was at fault; whether the defenders or the goalkeeper.
Absolutely @Fairplay
Oya na am still waiting for the MORON to change his I.D to WE. LMFAO!
You should’ve known that it is only me in this forum that can go against the WHOLE WORLD and still come out UNBOTHERED.. LMFAO!
MY battery is fully charged with enough data. LMFAO
No work for me today plus I have had LMFAO!!
So I have enough time… LMFAO!!
Are we still in the business of blaming Okoye for the goal against Tunisia? People are forever stuck in the past. MOVE ON. THIS IS A DIFFERENT OKOYE. IT IS NOT A MISTAKE TO BE BOUGHT BY WATFORD. Okoye is as good as several Ghana goalkeepers FACT. If it bothers you that much that Okoye will be in post against Ghana, do the needful and watch Big Brother Nigeria instead. Lolzzzz Lolzzzz. Za Za Za Za Za Za Za Za
*Had breakfast*
Don’t mind them @Igbekun Abo. Their lame comments on my opinion shows they are angry that am blaming their FAVS for the goal OKOYE conceeded. LMFAO!
The assistant coach is nothing but a joke, this shows he has no job there. Whoever is close to Amuneke should kindly tell him we prefer to hear from Agu, the trainer.
Mr.Agu is sleeping right now
Mtchwwww. This Amuneke is very funny and failed to realized those who ate their vommit no longer have honour.
Why? He just told you his preference and besides, he couldn’t have been in the coaching crew without raising a voice for once. He vommitted no doubt but it is time to support SE though I’m not in support of Okoye in goal against Ghana.
Truth be told ndidi is overrated no doubt he is a good player he is not in d class of oliseh or Mikel in that DM even though Mikel was converted still u can’t compare d two of them,check our d friendly match against Ukraine it was ,areibo/etebor/iwobi also WC qualifier against Algeria at uyo etebor/iwobi/Mikel if u watch those game u will notice d complete passing accuracy n fluidity in our midfield ndidi shouldn’t be in d game wen we r losing cos we can’t play d kind of pressing football that SE is known for because of his style of play,during d time of oliseh we use to play one DM/AM/ n surppoting striker oliseh/okocha/amokachi
n oliseh will cover every inch coupled with his tailored made pass,in a nutshell we make do with what we have,
Well said bro
Majority of the guys that come here to rant started following the SE from the 2000’s unlike we since the time of CLEMENS WESTERHOF
God bless you Chidi.Whats your INSTAGRAM HANDLE?This BRILLIANT COMMENT you’av made deserve my FOLLOW.