A former Green Eagles goalkeeper, Emmanuel Okala, has warned those who are blaming Francis Uzoho for the Super Eagles’ 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia last Friday to reconsider.
Nigerians widely blamed Francis Uzoho’s mistake for Nigeria’s failure to win the international friendly match against Saudi Arabia. However, Emmanuel Okala, who captained the Green Eagles to victory in the 1980 African Cup of Nations, told newsmen yesterday that Uzoho should not be solely blamed for the draw.
“As a former goalkeeper, I have taken my time to watch Francis Uzoho, and I can say he is good. What I noticed last Friday was that the goalkeeper’s trainer in the Super Eagles seems not to be doing his job well. To me, he should be the one to take the blame, not Uzoho.”
“As a goalkeeper trainer, you have a responsibility to train your keepers how to deal with set pieces, including free kicks. How they will position themselves, and arrange their defense line. At times, some of the deficiencies we see during matches are things that were left unattended to during training
“I don’t even know the current goalkeeper trainer of the Super Eagles. To me, all the blame should not go to Uzoho for the 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia,” Okala said.
Following the match in Portugal, Uzoho, who plays in Cyprus, acknowledged that his error allowed the Saudis to take the lead in the friendly game. Nevertheless, he emphasized that this should not overshadow the fact that he delivered a respectable performance.
“Generally, it was a good game for us, but the result didn’t reflect our performance. We make mistakes, but we learn from our mistakes.”
“My position is a big position. And that position makes mistakes. You can make 10 saves, and control your area well, but with just one mistake, people will forget all that. We try our best to do well, the fans should keep supporting whoever is in goal, and they should be more supportive,” he said.