Nwabali's notorious penchant for time-wasting: Eguavoen vows to hold talks with Super Eagles GK

Chippa United star Stanley Nwabali has earned a notorious reputation for unnecessary time-wasting since establishing himself as Nigeria's first-choice goalkeeper. 

Statistically speaking, it is believed that Nwabali picked up the bad trait at Chippa United, a team known for adopting negative tactics to grind out results when leading or facing stronger opponents.

Last season, the Nigeria international had a very poor disciplinary record for a goalkeeper, with eleven yellow cards shown to him in twenty-six appearances in South Africa's DStv Premiership.

Nwabali was cautioned six times for time-wasting, in matches against Orlando Pirates, Cape Town Spurs, Richards Bay FC (2), Lamontville Golden Arrows and AmaZulu FC.

The 28-year-old was booked in stoppage time during the group game between Nigeria and Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles leading 1-0. 

Nwabali came under intense scrutiny on Tuesday afternoon during the second half of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda as he was caught time wasting, an unnecessary move given that the Super Eagles were searching for a winning goal.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Nigeria's caretaker coach Augustine Eguavoen has vowed to hold talks with Nwabali to address the goalkeeper's tendency for time-wasting.

"I don't encourage such, it's something we have to talk about and we all know he's one of the best goalkeepers in Africa right now," Eguavoen told reporters. 

"Some officials can get irritated as well and then start to add more minutes.

"It's not a game plan. I told you before we have come here to get three points so delaying such balls is not the best.

"It's an in-house talk, we will discuss, going forward such things will not happen."

On a positive note, Nwabali took his clean sheet tally to six for the Super Eagles, having posted clean sheets in the back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Republic of Benin and Rwanda.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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