Head coach of the Super Eagles, Gernor Rohr, has revealed his plan to introduce young Germany-born goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, into the Nigeria’s senior national team.
The German coach has seen the Fortuna Düsseldorf II goalkeeper as the solution to Super Eagles goalkeeping problem after 2019 African Cup of Nations disappointments.
Daniel Akpeyi, who was named the number one goalkeeper at the just-concluded tournament in Egypt, came under scathing criticisms for a largely unconvincing display.
Okoye is eligible to play for either Germany or Nigeria but the former Bayern Leverkusen safe hands has expressed his desire to represent Nigeria.
The goalkeeper, who plays in the Bundesliga 2, was invited to the U-23 national side for an Olympics qualifier earlier in the year but club commitments held him back.
“My aim is to improve all the departments in the team. The most important ones are the goalkeeper and then the goal scorer, they are already two challenges now, we’ve been working on it for a long time now,” Rohr told Sport Extra.
“We knew the problem in the goalkeeping department before the AFCON, and that it could be a big problem at the AFCON.So, the bronze medal is really an achievement and we could have even gotten to the final. When you go to the history of winners of AFCON, you must be good in this position, you must be very good and I think we can be.
“So, for the goalkeeper position, we have Maduka Okoye, who plays for Dusseldorf; he will be a good one (keeper), I think.”
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