Skip to main content

Okoye asked to be excused from Super Eagles squad – Ike Shorunmu reveals


Super Eagles goalkeeper coach, Ike Shorunmu has revealed why goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, missed Nigeria’s squad last four games. 

 

The German-born goalkeeper who last featured for the Super Eagles against Tunisia at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon came under heavy criticism for the team’s exit from the tournament.
Following the backlash from angry fans, Okoye allegedly pulled out of the Eagles Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Ghana through illness.

 

It has also been revealed that he also asked to be left out of the team to focus on settling in at his new club after being invited for the international friendlies against Mexico and Ecuador as well as the 2023 AFCON qualifiers against Sao Tome and Principe. 
Speaking with reporters, the Eagles goalkeeper coach Ike Shorunmu said:  “He (Okoye) was not in the team in their last two games before we came on board but he was called up for the friendlies in the USA,” Shorunmu said.

 

“But the secretary of the team sent me a message he received through a friend that he (Okoye) wanted to be excused for the games as he wanted to focus on settling in at his new club which I rightly understand.

 

“He is at a new club and he needs to prove himself well with the new coach at the club unlike when he was with his former team where he knew the terrain better.
“I have been in such situations before when I changed club so I understand what he is going through but we hope to have him back in the team in September for the next AFCON qualifiers.

 

The 22-year-old kept eight clean sheets in 31 games conceding 40 goals. He is tipped to become the Hornet’s first choice in the English Championship.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hurricane Hits Texas, One Person Reported Dead

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas as a Category 4 storm on Friday, battering the coast with 130-mph winds and torrential rain. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in more than a decade leaving a massive destruction, loss of electricity, wrecked buildings and has so far killed at least one person. Scroll down to see more pictures of the incident:

Kenyan Law Court dismisses case of man seeking compensation after his wife eloped with another man from hospital

  A lawsuit filed by a man seeking to be compensated by St Mary's Mission Hospital in Kenya for allowing his wife to leave the hospital with another man after giving birth, has been struck out by a law court.    The appellant had sued the St. Mary's Mission hospital at Kakamega law courts in 2020 seeking general damages from the facility on grounds that the hospital had discharged his wife and allowed her to leave with another man. After delivering and at the time of discharge, the wife of the appellant claimed he was the baby's father.   The court of appeal judges Patrick Kiage, Mumbi Ngugi and Francis Tuiyott sitting at the Kisumu Court of Appeal, empathized with the man, but disagreed that he (the appellant) be compensated by the hospital for not detaining his wife.  They upheld the lower court's judgement which added that there's no remedy that lies in the law for such grievances.   Kiage said;   "I agree that if a man takes the woman he loves to t...

Nigerian Military hands over 23 rescued children to UNICEF through Borno State

The Nigerian military has handed over 23 children who were formerly associated with Boko Haram insurgents, to UNICEF through the Borno State government.  The children were picked up during various military operations around the north-east region. Aged between 17 and 10 years, the boys and girls confessed to the military that they have been assisting the Boko Haram insurgents either as fighters or domestic helps in the camps. The Theatre Commander of a military counterinsurgency force, Abba Dikko, said the 23 children were released in line with Nigeria military’s commitment to the observance of human rights. He observed that the children and other vulnerable persons were victims who faced with the highly unstable circumstances induced by the conflict would have had little option but to fall under the thrall of the insurgents.  “We were able to identify this category of people, especially the women, the aged and children to whom it behooves our sense of duty and res...