World Cup: Akanni rates Uzoho above Ezenwa, Akpeyi
Former Super Eagles defender, Waidi Akanni on Friday regretted the unfortunate illness of Super Eagles first-choice goalkeeper, Karl Ikeme, who was diagnosed with acute Leukaemia in July 2017.
The former Chairman of the Lagos Football Association reckoned that goalkeeping would not have been an issue if he did not take ill.
The ex-international has however expressed confidence in the abilities of the Eagles coaching crew to make the right decision in the goalkeeping department.
He said, “The purpose of a training camp is to help the coach make such decisions. For me, I can’t say this particular goalkeeper or the other should be our first-choice goalkeeper.
“Remember there are still going to be injury worries, fitness issues and other factors which will either make the coach’s job of choosing a keeper difficult or easy.
“The coach has started well by calling up four good goalkeepers. I think in the coming weeks it will become clear first to the coach and then to Nigerians who our first-choice keeper will be in Russia.
“My heart goes out for Ikeme. Goalkeeping would have been part of Eagles headache if not for his illness. But considering that Rohr has used Uzoho in most of his friendlies shows he seems to have more confidence in him. That might just edge it in his favour,’’ he said.
“Ezenwa is a good keeper, but he does not have the confidence he needs for a stage as big as the World Cup. He is most likely going to freeze against Argentina and Croatia. Uzoho is even more experienced than Ezenwa.
“What he has going for him though is being on the cards of a club in a top European league. Akpeyi has also shown that he lacks experience.’’
The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 14 in 12 venues and 11 host cities across Russia. The Super Eagles are drawn in Group D alongside archrivals, Argentina, Croatia and Iceland.
They will open their account against Croatia on June 16 at the Kaliningrad Stadium, before taking on Iceland on June 22 and Argentina on June 26.