'One of the favourites for the Nigerian fans' - Mikel left impressed by AFCON performances of Nwabali

Nigeria icon John Obi Mikel has been left impressed by the performances of Stanley Nwabali at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. 

The former Chelsea midfielder admitted that Nigeria were facing a goalkeeping crisis before the start of the ongoing tournament but manager Jose Peseiro managed to fix the problem by handing the gloves to Nwabali.

Unheralded before the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations with no competitive appearances to his name, Nwabali has been one of the revelations of the tournament and has continued to wow spectators with his shot-stopping skills and command of his penalty area.

Although the floodgates have not yet opened, Mikel feels that the Super Eagles defensive solidity helped them qualify for the last four of the Africa Cup of Nations and Nwabali has been immense between the posts. 

The Chippa United star has kept four consecutive clean sheets at the AFCON - the third Nigerian goalkeeper to do so in a single tournament after Best Ogedegbe and Ike Shorunmu. 

"When you look through the whole team everybody has been absolutely superb, starting from the goalkeeper which is something I talked about before the tournament. I said one position we need to make sure we sort out is the goalkeeping position and we've managed do that," Mikel said on The Obi One Podcast. 

"He's based in Africa and he's managed to become the talk of the tournament, he's become one of the favourites for the Nigerian fans. He's put in very good performances. 

"Before we scored the goal against Angola, there was a massive save that he made. If the ball went in, it would have been a different ball game."

Nigeria will take on South Africa, who have an equally brilliant goalkeeper in Ronwen Williams, in the semifinals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday, February 7.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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