Sparta Rotterdam have celebrated Maduka Okoye after he kept a clean sheet in their 2-0 win at RKC Waalwijk 2-0 on Saturday, Completesports.com reports.
Okoye made his second league appearance for Sparta Rotterdam and helped them claim their first league win of the season.
After a goalless first half, Sparta Rotterdam broke the deadlock in the 59th minute through Lennart Thy.
Also Read: Eredivisie: Okoye Helps Sparta Rotterdam Record First League Win
And in stoppage time Abdou Harroui made sure of the points for the visitors as he made it 2-0.
And reacting to Okoye’s performance, the Dutch club wrote on their verified Twitter handle alongside a picture of the Super Eagles goalkeeper:”Clean sheet.”
Saturday’s win took Okoye’s Sparta to 13th on six points in the 18-team Dutch Eredivisie.
Okoye is expected to be in Benin, Edo State on Monday ahead of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers against Sierra Leone.
He was in goal for the Eagles in their two friendly games against Algeria and Tunisia in Austria last month.
By James Agberebi
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COMMENTS
_A list of 17 goalkeepers available to the Super Eagles_
The stocks of temporary Super Eagles Number One goalkeeper Maduka Okoye continue to rise following another impressive performance in the Dutch league where he kept a clean sheet in his side’s 2:0 victory against RKC Waalwijk this weekend.
Elsewhere, Super Eagles latest invitee-goalkeeper Sebastian Osigwe is back in the fray to represent Nigeria in November’s Afcon qualifiers having now tested negative for Covid-19 following a previous positive test several days ago.
Many fans of the former Flying Eagle have clamoured for months for his inclusion to the Super Eagles but those calls had initially fallen on deaf administrative ears.
But, in a positive turnaround in fortunes for the 26 year old Swiss-Nigerian, he was handed a call-up to the Super Eagles squad for November assignments.
Just when his vociferous fans were starting to jump up and down in celebration of Osigwe’s invite, their excitement was dealt a painful blow with the news of the FC Lugano man’s positive covid-19 test results on October 30th.
Happily though, following another test, Osigwe was reported on November 6th to have tested negative for the dreaded virus much to the delight and relief of his fans who cannot wait to see the latest in a long line of promising goalkeepers kit out for Nigeria.
There was a time when the narrative was peddled that the Super Eagles have a goalkeeping crisis.
However, with young goalkeepers Dele Alampasu and Matthew Yakubu earning invitations For October whilst Maduka Okoye featured and did well in the period, are the days of goalkeeping crisis over for the Super Eagles?
I will say yes, potentially. There are now many young and vibrant dual nationality and indigenous goalkeepers lining up to man in between the sticks for Nigeria when called upon.
And based on how Okoye and Uzoho have acquitted themselves admirably in Super Eagles colours, there is nothing to suggest these prospects will not rise to the occasion.
I now use this opportunity to list young goalkeepers currently available to the Super Eagles below (culled from Hillary’s helpful piece ):
Current young Super Eagles goalkeepers
1.Francis Uzoho
2.Maduka Okoye
3.Matthew Yakubu
4.Dele Alampasu
5.Sebastian Osigwe
6.Tobias Okiki Lawal
Interestingly,three of them,Okoye(Germany), Osigwe(Switzerland) and Lawal(Austria), were born abroad.
Other viable and vibrant options:
1.David Nwolokor
2.Philip Ejimadu
3.Adebayo Adeleye
4.Matthew Idama Cyprian
5.Ikuepamitan Ayotunde Ezekiel
6.Arthur Okonkwo
7.Noah Atubolu
8.Gavin Bazunu
9.Emmanuel Idem
10.Manny Agboola
11.Joseph Osaghae
Flying Eagles of Nigeria’s options:
Prospects like Jonathan Zacalla,Daniel Jinadu,Prince Adegoke,Ovie Ejeheri,Joseph Oluwabusola,Joshua Oluwayemi,Tobi Oluwayemi,Kelechi Chibueze etc are not too young to be called up to shadow national team goalkeepers.