Five Years, Five Goalkeepers; Yet Enyeama Would Not Return To The Super Eagles
By Our Correspondent
Despite Nigeria having used five different goalkeepers in five years, former Scaptain and goalkeeper of the side, Vincent Enyeama has said that he has drwan the curtain with the national team
the former Enyimba keeper and 2003/2004 CAF Champions League winner however admitted that Daniel Akpeyi and Francis Uzoho are fantastic goalkeeping options for Gernot Rohr and it would be a slap on their faces should he return to take their spot.
Enyeama is arguably Nigeria’s greatest ever goalkeeper, appearing at three FIFA World Cups and lifting the African Cup of Nations in 2013. However, his 13-year international career was brought to a premature end in 2015, following a clash with then-Super Eagles head coach, Sunday Oliseh.
Five years after, Rohr is still searching for a long-term replacement for Nigeria’s joint most capped player ever, with the Super Eagles’ goalposts manned by five different goalkeepers during that period.
After Carl Ikeme, there had been chances offered to Daniel Akpeyi, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Francis Uzoho, and recently Maduka Okoye, but none had sealed the goalkeeping role as his.
There had been calls, urging Enyeama to return to the national fold and help ease Rohr’s biggest problem.
But the 37-year-old, who has been without a club since leaving Lille in 2018, insisted that it would not be in the best interest of all the parties involved.
“A good Nigerian league goalkeeper right now will be better than me because I haven’t played in over a year,” Enyeama told ESPN. “Playing for Nigeria is not an easy thing. If you have not played for a year, you can’t come out and say you want to play for Nigeria.
Nigeria is such a big country. You can’t go and mess up. “What is Uzoho doing that they should call me? What about Osigwe or the young boy, Maduka in Germany? Akpeyi is doing excellently well in South Africa.
“Why should they call Enyeama, when Ezenwa is playing and there are good goalkeepers in the Nigerian league. You can’t call Vincent Enyeama. It would be insulting to the other goalkeepers. “We should be proud of these guys. They are all good goalkeepers.”