Nigeria Goalkeeper Dilemma : Why Uzoho Is Not The Messiah We Need

Nigeria lost 2-0 Serbia because they simply could not cope with the speed and ability of the European side in the international friendly match at the Hive Stadium on Tuesday night.

With Filip Kostic and Adem Ljajic dominating the midfield, the forwards ripped through the heart of Gernot Rohr's side. It was, at times, awesome, and almost unstoppable.

Serbia were the more threatening team, with Nigeria simply struggling to cope. The Serbs were quicker and more aggressive. It was only a friendly, but it was a sobering result.

After taking a closer view at the general performance of the team, the most worrisome aspect is the goalkeeper. Is Francis Uzoho the Messiah we need for Russia 2018?

He flaps at crosses, doesn't organize his defence very well and usually show jitters at will. The games we played against Poland and Serbia exposed the Deportivo La Caruna's shot stopper's calamitous part.

What was the essence of the special training Rohr and his technical team rendered to him after the Argentina game?

The gap created by the forced retirement of Vincent Enyeama and illness of Carl Ikeme is a problem Rohr is yet to solve.

In recent times, Daniel Akpeyi, Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Uzoho have been given chances to shine but none has convinced "hard to please Eagles fans" so far.

What Next?

At this stage of the Eagles preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, certain measures must be taken to arrest a looming disaster.

As it is, Enyeama doesn't look convinced about coming out of retirement and rescue the Eagles in Russia.

Ikeme will certainly be in Russia as a supporter from all indications.

We need to beef up that department with one or two goalkeepers available for selection.

Dele Aiyenugba and Austin Ejide are still active in Israel for Hapoel Ashkelon and Hapoel Hadera respectively.

They have been churning out decent performance for their teams and deserve the chance to be recalled to the
team.

Lesson From Friendly Loss

Rohr should not regard this as too great a setback but he needs to learn from it and make productive adjustments.

Abayomi Ademetan

Photo Credit : rcdeportivo.es