From the years of Best Ogedengbe, Peter Fregene, Alloy Agu, Peter Rufai, Ike Shorunmu and Vincent Enyeama (to mentioned but a few) Nigeria has always been blessed with spectacular goalkeepers at different time and era.
Maduka Okoye in action for Nigeria.
At every given opportunities each of these goalkeeper distinguished themselves beyond reasonable doubts and left an indelible track record for younger generations to savour.
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After the unceremonious retirement of Vicent Enyeama from the Super Eagles, it's been a roller coaster, trial and error approach as invited goalkeepers struggle to pin down the number one jersey of the team which inadvertently push the Super Eagles handlers to beam their search light on projection to unravel a new No.1 goalkeeper for the most populous black nation in the world.
Carl Ikeme seemed to have make the jersey his until he was diagnosed with Leukemia which abruptly cut short his glorious football career. The former Wolverhampton Wanderers goalstopper became an instantaneous fans favorite with his show of class and outstanding performance in his first few matches for the National team and he looks destined to save the No1. jersey for himself but as the saying goes "Life is what happened while we're busy planning something else". Thus the search for number one Eagles goalkeeper continues.
Francis Uzoho had the luxury to be in goal for Nigeria at 2018 FIFA World cup and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. But between then comes the emergence of Maduka Okoye.
Born in Düsseldorf to a Nigerian father and a German mother, Okoye started his career in 2012 with Bayer Leverkusen, turning up for their Youth team. In 2017, he left Bayer Leverkusen for Fortuna Düsseldorf, where he played for their Youth team and the senior team, Fortuna Düsseldorf II. In 2018, he was fully promoted to Fortuna Düsseldorf II, a football team that plays in the Germany Regionalliga West league.
Okoye receives his first Nigeria call up in 2019 when he was invited to the Nigerian U23 Team for the 2019 African U-23 Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya U-23 by Imama Amapakabo, but failed to make his debut, due to club engagement. Another attempt to have him play for the "Dream Team" later in the year against Sudan was also unsuccessful. The waiting period finally came to an end as Maduka Okoye made his much awaited Super Eagles debut in a grand style on 13 October 2019, as a substitute in a friendly match against Brazil which ended 1–1.
The cameo debut appearance against Brazil was all Okoye needed to display his quality, class and potential to the full glare over 180 millions Nigeria populace. The then 20years old exhibit high level of composure, reflex and coordination as Super Eagles defence calmly kept Brazilian strikers at bay whilst Okoye was in goal post.
Thenceforth, Okoye football career continue on ascendency trajectory. He moved from Fortuna Düsseldorf II to Sparta Rotterdam in Dutch Eredivisie League in 2020. Due to Covid19 global pandemic that practically grounded sporting activities across the globe, there has been little opportunity for the young goalkeeper to kick the ground running at Sparta. But on international scene, Okoye displayed another master class performance in-between the sticks in concecutive international friendly matches against African champion Algeria, who are on 18 match unbeaten run, and Tunisia.
The top rising goalkeeper was able to coordinate Super Eagles defence, which consists of a debutant, two returning players and a makeshift midfield, and ensure the team had a creditable outings during the international break.
Okoye was on for the entire duration of the two matches, kept experienced goalkeeper like Dele Alampasu and other goalkeepers invited on bench and did absolute justice to every minute spent on the pitch.
His excellent performance has earned him more trust and confidence both from the national team coaching crew and football loving Nigerian fans as they're of the opinion that Okoye has proven beyond doubt that he deserved to be No1 goalkeeper of the Nigeria senior National team.
Will Okoye seize this high expectations and confidence repose in him as a catalyst to spur himself to becoming Super Eagles 'save hand' or would it be a matter of search continues for the Super Eagles handlers? Time will reveal.
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