Maduka Okoye is full excitement after returning to action for Serie A club Udinese, reports Completesports.com.
Okoye was suspended for two months in July for alleged illegal betting activities.
The Nigeria international made his return to action in Udinese’s 1-1 draw with Cremonese on Monday night.
The 26-year-old put up an impressive performance in the keenly contested encounter.
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Okoye took to the social media to celebrate his return.
“Happy to be back, back to doing what I love most,” he posted on Instagram.
“Back to fighting alongside my teammates, back to fighting in front of our fans, back to doing what I am doing since a young boy.
“Back to following the path my father fought for, back to having fun, back to chasing dreams, back to doing what I’ll die for.”
By Adeboye Amosu
16 Comments
Ehem, CSN, please stop trying to push an agenda. Let’s leave Nwabali for the playoffs for continuity’s sake for now – and not necessarily for quality or level-headedness.
Hopefully, we scale that hurdle, and Okoye will come in for friendlies. November 13 is not for experiments.
Wow……..reporting on a SE goalkeeper who is 1st choice in his Italian Serie A is “pushing an agenda”….??
Why are you trying to force your subconsiously to deny the obvious….??
Why does this feel to you as an agenda being pushed in the first place….??
Maybe something is truly wrong that you are forcing yourself not to accept.
While I agree that the playoffs aren’t any place for experiments, does that mean a Nigerian GK who walked straight back into his Serie A club’s first XI after 2 months and goes on to post a great performance is not worth reporting by the Nigerian press…???.
I really dont get it.
I personally consider Okoye a more professional GK, but I also know when the media, as a collective or specific media outlets, try to influence a manager’s decision. The Franco-Malian is still relatively new to Nigeria, and we also saw how he gaffed in the Zim game, throwing in Boniface instead of locking up shop at the back. The media wanted to see Boniface given one last chance to prove himself or get sidelined subsequently. Chelle caved in, and Boniface has rightfully been excused since then.
I’m sure Chelle has learnt his lessons from that blunder which eventually cost us WC automatic ticket, but still….
Yes, Okoye is back, and we’re all happy and can’t wait to see him in the SE. But seeing his stories make up 30- 40% of the day’s headlines would feel like propping him up like a giant billboard all over the coach’s face.
Hahahahaha…..I suppose CSN reporting Osimhen’s brace in the UCL yesterday is also “pushing an agenda”
Writing 2 reports about Nigeria’s highest profile GK walking back into the starting line up of his Serie A club after a 2 month suspension and posting a commendable performance has now become “propping him up” in the coach’s face………LMAOOoo. The coach does not have a TV or access to the internet kwanu…..??? LMAOooo
Like I said before, something must be truly wrong, that you are forcing yourself not to accept….hence the reason why you are trying to force your subconsious to think otherwise.
Should Victor Boniface resume duties for Werder Bremen now and start pumping braces and hat tricks back to back, CSN should shut their trap and never report it because that will amount to “propping him up” too right….?? LMAOoo
Weldone ehn….good job…!!!
As for you ehn – please listen and listen well – Okoye is NEVER more professional than Nwabali “The Rock” – I think the problem lies in your understanding – or more pertinently “lack of understanding” of the meaning of the word “professional”
Just because someone plays in Europe – Italy in this case and because they- “Italy” would seem to have a better, even more professional league, does not mean that everyone playing in that league is automatically more professional than everyone else playing in maybe a less advanced league like maybe South Africa – there is no causative determining link between the two. That being the case, and now that you understand the meaning and implication of the term professional a bit better, tell me why you would say that rubbish you said, and I quote:
“I personally consider Okoye a more professional GK” – BASED ON WHAT???
Mehn, you people need to be gagged and not allowed to just make these pronunciations Gbaga! out of absolutely nothing! Kai!!, or they should seize your phone that you are using to type this kind of nonsense.
Ngwannu, come back and lay down the reasoning behind you deciding that your Okoye is more “professional” than the Rock Nwabali – and if you cannot do so using and citing reasons, definitions and even instances then please my friend wind your neck back in and shut-up.
The only good thing is that, at least I can still believe in some of the things you say a lot more than what that dirty old man – Drey says – absolute madness mostly with him.
You are entitled to your opinions (as we all are) but please please please, do not come here and make abstract statements based on nothing whatsoever – this is Nigeria and there are enough nincompoops running around that may just believe your s**t and get confused in thinking that they have learnt something new because somebody said something that they didn’t think through first! Learn meanings of words and their implications and if they are correctly applied before just coming out with grandiose statements.
Boy… You have succeeded in saying nothing but spew lack of understanding….
Okoye being more professional is the same as saying Okoye is more focused /business minded in matches…
NWABALI is a great goalkeeper but his complacent tendencies which have cost us a few times makes him a little bit less professional.
@Cuteprince, you no see be see small boy o? Simple statement that every other adult here understands, but instead of the teenager asking questions, he’s growling all over the place and disturbing the peace of the neighborhood.
Bia, nwoke 443 abi nah four four foul, be very careful there, okay? I see you barking everywhere, throwing around expletives like an untrained teenager.
But I just ignore for now. But won’t be for long. Don’t have time for your infantile drivels.. You sound too much like a disturbed laddie drooling all over the place for attention and validation. Abeg shift.
Just putting this out for you as a warning, cos I’ll be keenly watching to see if you’ll step out of line again. That’s all I have for you: E-training. Nothing else. I won’t talk football with you.
@Kel, we understand you. However:
1. Chippa united, whom Nwabali currently captains, is in the bottom of the SA league after 10 matches as we speak.
2. He has only kept 2 clean sheets in the 10 matches and very soon, Chippa united might bench him to improve their lot and avoid relegation.
3. Lesotho were seconds away from ending our world cup dream on match day 9 of the qualifiers because of his erratic misjudged timing of the ball with Ajayi. That would have been his second howler.
4. If super Eagles call-ups are unforgiving for calling up out of form outfield players (whether defenders or attackers) because they are not measuring up, why should the goalkeepers department tolerate the current risky situation we are in with Nwabali.
5. There might be no 5 man wall to protect him in December afcon when we are already calling for the head of Ekong who was a force of the 5 man wall defence that protected Nwabali in 2023 afcon. It means one thing: Eagles behind the sticks is in trouble already by December going by the keeper’s form in “lowly” SA league and the national team
6. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT OF MY POINTS.
All our playoff opponents (Cameroon, Gabon, Congo) next month OUTSCORED us in the last WC qualifiers series and CONCEDED THE LOWEST too.
To put it in perspective, our first opponent Gabon had only two strikers (Aubameyang and Bouanga) plunder 15 of the 22 goals the nation scored in all the 10 qualifiers, THE SAME TOTAL NIGERIA could only muster in their qualifiers with Osimhen scoring nearly half of those.
2 players scored 15 goals
Full country Nigeria scored 15 goals.
Nwabali simply will not face the players of Zimbabwe or Lesotho or Zimbabwe who were mostly home based but MORE SAVVY ATTACKERS FROM Cameroon or Congo if we scale through Gabon’s experienced Aubameyang and co.
Goals win games, defence wins championships.
Fredrick is still a rookie defender whether we like it or not, since Ekong is being begged to stay out.
And playoff matches are win or go out/home. No return leg.
Is it relegation (current) standard keepers we should trust next month (IF CHIPPA UNITED EVEN KEEPS HIM IN GOAL BY THEN)?
I get your points, @Sly, and appreciate your research. Just a bit nervous about the playoffs. I know Okoye will be back in the next list, I’m just thinking he might be fielded and could backfire, cos of the current team rhythm purpose. I personally prefer Okoye, but perhaps we could put up with Nwabali for these last 2 matches.
Kel, we can but there is a screaming headline in one of the dailies this morning:
“Nwabali’s Chippa United PART WAYS with FOURTH coach in THREE months.”
That instability along with dealing with loss of both parents can rattle anybody.
For me oh, I don’t think it is what a floundering Super Eagles that only scored 4 goals for the first time in the 10th game of WC qualifiers needs.
Having to deal with 5 coaches in 3 months as the captain and highest paid can be akin to walking on eggshells with a constant pressure to impress them.
But playoff matches no get replay. Chelle has a big decision to make. I just hope all our keepers will be active before then
This is a baseless arguement now habba, we all know and it okoye will surely be call up for any of our upcoming matches, okoye needs no introduction or hyping from CS to get his place back. Good thing he is back and walk back straight as udinese first choice GK, who will man the post as our first choice is chelle headache as any one of them will do just fine.
I know he’ll be invited. He’s arguably the number one. I wasn’t arguing against the invitation, but who’ll man the post in the playoffs? I’m only bothered about the team rhythm in a crucial match.
Yea @kel, that’s a good headache for chelle to have two top GK available for the playoff, any one of nwabali and okoye will do just fine for me but I think I will stick with nwabali for continuity while okoye start from the bench.
The upcoming playoffs is giving everyone cause for concern, and with good reason.
With so much at stake, it stands to reason that our opponents will not be coming up against us unprepared. They will do their due diligence, watch our past games, and come up with SWOT analysis to help them generate strategies and execute effectively on match day.
The SE at the moment do not inspire that much confidence. However, I believe success is possible if we get our act together, and if we address our obvious weaknesses.
One big weakness we have at the moment, which our opponents will surely exploit, IS NWABALI’S TEMPER. Note that the weakness is not his ability as a goalie, which is proven. The weakness is his hot temper!
While his passion and drive is admirable, he needs to rein it in lest it becomes a weakness our opponents will gleefully exploit.
In a high stakes elimination match, teams will do WHATEVER is required to secure victory. It is very possible that our opponents will try to provoke Nwabali to rage in the hope that he will lose his cool. Based on his behaviour in past matches, Nwabali will retaliate 9 times out of 10 when provoked, and our opponents will be counting on this, and hoping that he does something that gets him yellow carded or worse sent off. Just approaching an opponent in a threatening manner is enough to get a warning from most refs. Verbal abuse of an opponent can result in a yellow card. And lay your hands on your opponent, and you risk a red card. Nwabali could easily fall victim to opponents’ antics to get him sent off because of his uncontrolled outbursts of temper.
He must make the effort to calm down. He must resist the urge to retaliate when provoked. If he can’t be relied on to control his temper, then Okoye or any other capable goalie must man the goal for our playoff matches. We simply can’t afford the consequences of an Nwabali temper tantrum in such a high stakes game.
My candid advise to Nwabali is that he should consider imitating his coach and get some water handy to pour generously on his head when his temper starts rising. If it needs to be ice cold water, so be it. Anything to rapidly control his explosive anger rapidly.
Nwabali’s hot temper is one of the chinks in our armor we must repair as we enter into battle for a mundial ticket next month. If we manage to qualify for the mundial, you can be sure that our world cup opponents will come up with more sophisticated strategies to provoke Nwabali and get him in trouble. Especially the South American teams. It is of utmost importance that Nwabali takes steps to control his temper. The upcoming matches are going to be difficult enough. Hopefully, we will not allow avoidable errors to further complicate the challenge ahead.
And the guy already has a yellow card that will be brought forward into these playoffs. That means, he’s a card away from suspension if he misbehaved. The road is long indeed