AFCON 2019: Super Eagles goalkeeper, Akpeyi denies using ‘juju’ during match with South Africa

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, has rubbished claims that he rubbed the ball used for their Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final match against South Africa with fetish substances.

There have been rumours on social media, that the Kaizer Chiefs’ stopper used ‘juju’ for the encounter.

However, in an interview with Soccer Laduma, Akpeyi, who manned the post for four of Nigeria’s games at the AFCON, said: “People really believe I put juju on the match ball? That doesn’t make sense. Does juju really work in football?

“To me, that (juju) is nonsense because if juju really worked in football, Africa would be world champions. Most of the times in Africa; they like using juju and all of that stuff. They should be winning the championship now and then. It doesn’t work. Now, getting back to the match ball against South Africa, it happens all over Europe.

“If a goalkeeper is using a new set of gloves, you want to get a feel of the ball. If they (gloves) grip very well, the better. But sometimes they water the pitch and the ball can skid and be slippery, so you want to feel the level of the grip of the gloves on the ball.

“I’m a Christian and, so, I don’t think I’ll get myself involved in juju and even if you use it in my presence, it doesn’t work, otherwise like I said before, all those teams that use juju, they could be scoring 10 or 15 goals in a single match and winning all games. I have seen teams using juju and they never get anywhere. It doesn’t work, so never assume that it is juju whatsoever,” he added.

Nigeria finished in third place at the tournament.