Okoye at risk of losing his spot in Super Eagles against CAR
Maduka Okoye is at risk of losing his spot in the Super Eagles starting XI when they face the Central African Republic in a 2022 World Cup qualifier on Thursday evening.
The Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper was in goal against Liberia and Cape Verde in the first two qualifying matches, keeping a clean sheet in the former.
However, of the 23 players invited for the doubleheader against CAR, the 21-year-old was the only player not spotted at the team’s first workout held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Tuesday evening, starting from around 1700 hours.
The former Fortuna Dusseldorf goalkeeper is the only player yet to arrive camp ahead of the showdown on Thursday.
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Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Osimhen and Moses Simon, who joined the team on Tuesday, were all involved in the training session.
Okoye was on club duties on Sunday night in a 2-1 loss to PSV Eindhoven, which is the ninth consecutive game he has failed to keep a clean sheet.
Not taking into account the loss to Mexico in which Nigeria fielded a weakened team, Okoye has started nine of the last ten matches played by the national team.
But if today’s training session is anything to go by, manager Gernot Rohr has chosen Francis Uzoho and Daniel Akpeyi as his first and second choice goalkeeper, respectively, pending the arrival of Okoye.