Super Eagles media officer, Toyin Ibitoye has rated high all three shot-stoppers in the Nigerian camp and stopped short of sticking his neck out for who will get the nod as Nigeria’s first choice against South Africa.
Rather than pick one of Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Theophilus Afelokhai or Daniel Akpeyi to man the sticks at FNB Stadium, Johannesburg in the penultimate Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, Ibitoye stressed that anyone that is picked would do a good job.
Ibitoye stressed that all three shot-stoppers in camp are very good, reliable and formidable, which footballlive.ng gathered has brought out feirece yet helthy competition among them.
The ace broadcaster added: “Any of them will do well if called upon to be in goal for the match against South Africa on Saturday
“Ezenwa was brave in training, Afelokhai saved a penalty against Ahmed Musa, while Akpeyi has been on good form right now.”
Dramatically, Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr shares a similar view with Ibitoye, but has been able to narrow his options down to Akpeyi and Ezenwa, with one getting an edge in terms of knowing South Africa, where he plies his trade, and the other ranked high on levels of experience.
Rohr declared at length: “There’s competition between Ezenwa and Daniel Akpeyi.
“The advantage of Akpeyi is that he knows South Africa, he knows very well their players. It will be a home game for him.
”The advantage of Ezenwa is that he is in the group already, he played three matches in the World Cup qualifiers, decisive matches against Cameroon, he did very well and also in Algeria.
”We will see with the goalkeeper coaches what will be done. At the moment, the two are able to play.”
