Although, Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) Under-17 World Cup winning goalkeeper, Dele Alampasu, was in the Super Eagles squad to the Championship of Africa Nations (CHAN) early this year, he will not be part of the team to Brazil for the World Cup.
Stephen Keshi
Chief coach of the team, Stephen Keshi, told TheNiche that he has no plan of inviting another goalkeeper to the team ahead of preparations for the World Cup.
Alampasu did not see action at CHAN, as he was confined to the bench throughout the championship, reserving Chigozie Agbim.
“I don’t have problems with my goalkeepers. I am satisfied with the trio in my plan, namely Vincent Enyeama, Austin Ejide and Chigozie Agbim,” he said.
When reminded of the poor performance of Agbim at CHAN in South Africa, Keshi defended the goalkeeper and blamed the other players for his lapses.
“Why blame Agbim for the goals conceded during CHAN? He was not the only one on the field of play. What about other players? Where were they when the goals were being scored? They ought to give the keeper (Agbim) protection during matches, but the reverse was the case,” he said.
The young goal-tender emerged the best goalkeeper at the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and helped Nigeria to win her third trophy of the championship.
Keshi, who was named the 24th best national team coach in the world by The Institute of Football Coaching and Statistics (IFCS) early last month, said he would stick with the trio of Enyeama, Ejide and Agbim ahead of preparations for the World Cup.
He, however, has made all the shirts in the team available ‘on merit’, ahead of the May deadline of sending the list of names to FIFA.
“For now, no one is sure of a shirt in the team. All the players have to fight for shirt to be in the team for the World Cup billed for Brazil this summer,” he said.
