'Came almost 30-40m away from his goal to save another danger' - Peter Rufai waxes lyrical about Nwabali 

Nigeria's goalkeeping legend Peter Rufai was left impressed by the performances of Stanley Nwabali during the recently concluded 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and reckons that the Super Eagles goalkeeping crisis has been resolved to the satisfaction of Nigerians. 

Many Nigerians were worried before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations as the then first choice Francis Uzoho was a shadow of himself  due to a lack of game time at Omonia Nicosia, and the same applied to Maduka Okoye who was inactive at Udinese.

In the search for a reliable goalkeeper, Super Eagles manager Jose Peseiro traveled to South Africa to monitor Nwabili at close quarters, before handing him a recall to the national team after more than two years in the international wilderness. 

The Portuguese took almost everyone by surprise after naming Nwabali in the starting lineup in the Super Eagles' Africa Cup of Nations opener against Equatorial Guinea.

1994 Africa Cup of Nations-winning goalkeeper and two-time World Cupper, Rufai has highlighted what impressed him about Nwabali during the competition in Ivory Coast. 

Assessing the performance of Nwabali, Rufai told TVC News Nigeria: "In the commencement of the AFCON, the first match against Equatorial Guinea, that was my first time seeing Stanley Nwabali.

"Immediately I assessed his performance, his movement, communication, composure and immediately said to myself Nigeria have been able to solve this problem - the yearning of Nigeria getting a better goalkeeper for the Super Eagles.

"Nwabali in that first match satisfied me and I was happy with what I saw, Nigerians were happy with what they saw as well but it did not just end there.

"Subsequently Nwabali continued, growing into the competition, maintaining and dominating the six meters and including the 16m area of the field."

He continued: "His coming out, anticipation, reading the game was fantastic. There was a time Nwabali came almost 30-40m away from his goal to save what could have been another danger for the Super Eagles.

"He's not just in the goalpost as a goalkeeper but was busy reading the game and that was something I really like about Nwabali.

"I give him a thumbs up and Nigerians gave him a thumbs up. Nigerians loved his performances, I as a goalkeeper loved the performances of Nwabali."

Nwabali now holds the absolute record for the longest clean sheet among Nigerian goalkeepers at the Africa Cup of Nations after he remained unbeaten for 493 minutes across six matches.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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