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Former Nigerian international Dimeji Lawal has praised Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye’s impressive performance in Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Portugal in Wednesday’s international friendly game.
The Udinese goalkeeper made some vital saves despite conceding two goals against a star-studded Portuguese side at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria.
Okoye’s Excellent Display
Portugal deservedly went ahead in the 23rd minute as Diogo Dalot’s cutback from the byline was converted into the bottom-right corner by Pedro Neto’s fine left-footed finish.
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It was almost two for Portugal soon after, but Maduka Okoye made a stunning stop at the near post, tipping Bruno Fernandes’ stinging volley over the woodwork.
However, Akor Adams levelled the scoreline eight minutes from half-time, showing great poise to beat the defender before finding the far corner.
Francisco Conceição’s goal in the 75th minute proved to be the winner after Nigeria had equalized late in the first half.
Lawal Heaps Praise On Okoye
Reacting after the game, Lawal stated that Okoye gave a good account of himself against Portugal
“Okoye had an excellent performance against Portugal,” Lawal told Completesports.com.
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“I was really impressed with some of the brilliant saves he made to prevent the scoreline from going beyond 2-1.
“He was calm and calculative with his movement. This performance is better than the game against Poland.
“Besides, the two goals he conceded were never his fault and could have beaten any goalkeeper as well.”
5 Comments
He really tried but still having issues with his positioning and reflexes on shots.
An active Nwabali is sttill ahead. of him.
I completely agree with your not over compensating accessment. He is good on reflexes but poor in positioning.He still cannot deal with long range shots. Considering what happened in two afcon ago one might think he has corrected that flaw in his skills. His height and stature is a plus. Both goals conceded could have been saved with good positioning.
Well , He was but should have some better against the first goal. Please let’s give more opportunities to the guy that kept two clean sheets. Seems to be slightly better that okoye in terms of positioning , ball distribution and reflexes. Keeping 2 consecutive clean sheets not a fluke
Current FIFA rankings:
Zimbabwe: 130th
Jamaica: 71st
Poland: 35th
Portugal: 5th
Nigeria: 26th
All four teams have unequal ratings to trouble us. Okoye, for me, is the most exposed goalkeeper among the lot playing against top drawer players in a top 5 leagues league and he spared our blushes yesterday
We need to move from Nwabali and focus on what we have. To me Okoye is fine, or were we expecting Portugal not to score. Who knows Nwabali or even our first goalkeeper who kept two clean sheets against Jamaica and zimbawe may have leaked in more goals than we expect.