Noah Atubolu is good and will get better but he is not Nigeria’s saviour

The boy is good. At 21, Noah Atubolu is the youngest goalkeeper in the Bundesliga. The Freiburg youngster has come under the radar of Nigeria’s Super Eagles in recent weeks after the blunders of Francis Uzoho during the friendly games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique.

Nigeria needs a great goalkeeper once again after the era of Vincent Enyeama was unceremoniously ended by Sunday Oliseh’s brief stint as Super Eagles coach. We have been unlucky with the goalkeepers that have come through since, Carl Ikeme’s sad cancer diagnosis and eventual remission being one of the chapters that we have put behind us.

Nigeria’s current goalkeepers are afraid to make mistakes. Coach Jose Peseiro told me in Doha last December that Francis Uzoho did not want to get back into the second half after conceding two first half goals in the friendly against Portugal last year. Neither did Maduka Okoye who was on the bench. The lack of confidence in their own abilities was shocking to hear. The Super Eagles eventually lost that game 4-0.

Read Original