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Nigerian Football

ROHR’S ROAD NOT CLEAR YET FOR ENYEAMA

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BY BOLAJI OKUNOLA. 

 

The coast may not be clear yet for former Nigeria’s goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama to return to the Super Eagles’ fold.

A highly and very reliable source within the Super Eagles informed Sports Village Square that the atmosphere for Enyeama to return after his self imposed international exile is still fouled.

It was gathered that the Franco-German coach, Gernot Rohr, who has never hidden his wish to have Enyeama back into the team, may have been told by the Nigeria Football Federation chiefs to drop the idea of inviting Enyeama.

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After Nigeria qualified for the World Cup earlier this month, Rohr expressed his desire to have an experienced goalkeeper in his squad that will face the best of the bests in Russia next year.

His clamour for the return of the 101-capped Enyeama started following the recurring illness of his successor, Carl Ikeme who was later to be diagnosed with acute leukaemia. Since, the Super Eagles have had to gamble with options.

It was only in the back-to-back encounters with Cameroon that Ikechukwu Ezenwa appeared to have stamped his authority in the goalpost. Even then, Rohr still desires a reliable back-up as he begins to think of a World Cup squad.

Enyeama will be making his fourth appearance in the World Cup should he eventually make the list. He debuted in the global scene as a successor to Ike Shorunmu in Nigeria’s last match with England at the 2002 edition.

Since then, he has gone to feature seven other World Cup matches in 2010 and 2014.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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