Former Nigeria goalkeeper Greg Etafia feels his country is not as well-blessed in goals as in other positions heading to the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
He said Vincent Enyeama, who was capped 101 times by the Super Eagles, left a huge hole in the national team and they are struggling to get it right in that position.
Nigeria called up Chippa United goalie Stanley Nwabali, his first call-up since making his debut in 2021.
Francis Uzoho, in all honesty, has not covered himself in glory and was at fault when Nigeria squandered a lead when they drew with Saudi Arabia in a friendly match in October.
They also called up Enyimba goalie Oluwasegun Ojo, who just like Nwabali, is not capped at this level.
By the look of things, coach Jose Peseiro will opt for either Nwabali or Uzoho, who has more experience ahead of the other two.
But anywhere else on the pitch, Nigeria looks good, though they have seen the withdrawal of Wilfred Ndidi, Sadiq Umar, and Victor Boniface.
“Uzoho has been in the national team for a long time,” said Etafia to iDiski Times.
“By now he should be progressing in terms of how comfortable he is going to be with the goals. Unfortunately, the likes of Vincent Enyeama left a big step up for others to fill and every goalkeeper that came will always be under pressure.”
Enyeama made sure that Etafia didn’t get the sniff of playing for Nigeria, as the TS Galaxy goalkeeper coach was on the bench in the 2004 AFCON finals in Tunisia, where they won the bronze medal.
In the group stages, Nigeria hammered Bafana Bafana 4-0 with goals by Joseph Yobo, Jay-Jay Okocha and the brace by Peter Odemwinge.
“We need to get the cool-headed people who have been there before. Nwabali has done well with Chippa, I think he is on seven clean sheets in the games (15 leagues) he has played, he has saved Chippa for a lot of games,” continued Etafia.
“He has been in-form and I’m happy for him to have that opportunity to go to the national team. The coach was here to speak to him, so it was good for him to be invited.”
Nigeria, in the AFCON finals, will face Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, before a big titanic clash against hosts Ivory Coast four days later. The Super Eagles will conclude Group A against Guinea-Bissau on 22 January.
They will look to improve the 2022’s showing where they lost to Tunisia in the round of 16. But they come to this competition having not won in the last three matches.
“The expectations are always high when Nigeria is going for the tournament,” said Etafia when asked about the past three matches.
“For me, there are a lot of individual stars in this team, and it is just for the coach to put them collectively.”
