By Daily Sports on October 16, 2019

Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has explained that he decided to replace injured first choice goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho with Fortuna Düsseldorf’s Maduka Okoye during the Brazil versus Nigeria friendly match in Singapore because he felt the home-based Ikechukwu Ezenwa was match rusty.

Brazil forced Nigeria to a 1-1 draw in the friendly game played on Sunday.

Speaking after the match, Rohr noted that Ezenwa, who is number two in the pecking order of goalkeepers, has not tasted action since the conclusion of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, while Okoye was active for Fortuna Düsseldorf’s reserve team in the Regionalliga West.

“We decided to put in Maduka because Ezenwa didn’t play for months, not even in the CHAN Team,” Rohr said in an interview with the Super Eagles Media Team.

“He didn’t have any experience of competition in the last three months so we decided to play with Maduka because he was playing for his club.”

Rohr regretted that Uzoho had to leave the game because of injury, praying the goalkeeper would recover soon.

He added: “Francis had a great match, we regret so much his injury, he will have examinations tomorrow so we will see exactly.

“He is playing again in his club so he can come back with us to play. I hope he will not be out for a long time because we have two important matches to play, against Benin in Nigeria and Lesotho, so we have a lot of work to do.” (The Guardian)

•PHOTO: Gernot Rohr

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 16, 2019

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