Rohr re-affirms Maduka Okoye is Super Eagles’ first choice goalkeeper

Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has reaffirmed Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper Maduka Okoye as the first choice in goal for the Nigeria national team ahead of the final two games of the AFCON qualifiers.

Okoye made his debut for the Super Eagles in October 2013 as a substitute in a friendly game against Brazil and after a few matches for the national team, Rohr said in an interview that he was looking for the first goalkeeper for quite some time and now he does not have to look anymore. He found that in Maduka.

“No. 1 is Maduka,” Rohr said in an interview with 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.”

Okoye faces competition for the place from Daniel Akpeyi and Francis Uzoho despite Rohr’s comment. Okoye was in goal for Nigeria’s disappointing 4-4 draw with Sierra Leone in Benin where the Eagles surrendered a 4-0 lead.

The outing made Nigerians to call for him to be dropped as the Eagles number one. He was trusted for the second leg in Freetown and he kept a clean sheet as the match ended in another draw.

“You cannot drop a player because you say he plays one bad game. It is bad for his confidence.” Rohr said in defence of opting to put faith in Okoye after the outing.

Okoye moved to Sparta Rotterdam from Fortuna Dusseldorf in the summer and has produced brilliant performances and earned praises, notably from Dutch legend Frank De Boer who said he’s one of the best young goalkeepers in the Dutch league.