Having been given the nod in Nigeria’s opening game against Equatorial Guinea at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, Stanley Nwabali’s status as Super Eagles’ new No.1 appears to have been confirmed.
Peseiro’s decision to name Nwabali as the team’s first choice caused a stir with some praising his move as ruthless, while others believe Francis Uzoho has been unfairly treated.
The Chippa United goalkeeper has started the last three matches for the Eagles, with Uzoho relegated to the bench.
And despite failing to keep a clean sheet in his opening two games, Nwabali proved his class against the Elephants with his movement, positioning and reactions to record his first clean slate for Nigeria, who recorded their first win of the tournament at the expense of the hosts, Ivory Coast.
Goalkeeping has been Nigeria’s Achilles heel in recent years, with errors from Uzoho a constant frustration.
But in two games at the AFCON, however, Nwabali has brought something of calm and confidence between the sticks that the Eagles team had lacked since the unfortunate retirement of Carl Ikeme in 2016.
Since Ikeme’s retirement, several goalkeepers have been tested with none possessing the same quality as the former Wolves shot-stopper.
Nigeria’s goalkeeping crisis has been well publicised for many years with Uzoho failing to inspire confidence from fans, who blamed him for some of the team’s poor results in recent matches at the World Cup qualifiers against minnows Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Nwabali was rarely tested in the Eagles’ 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea but in the win over Ivory Coast, he came to the rescue of Peserio’s men with an assured display.
Firstly, he came to the rescue of his defenders, especially after a Zaidu Sanusi misjudged back pass header that almost led to an undeserved Elephants goal.
That save to deny Jean Philippe Krasso earned him the Save of The Day prize.
And in the second half, he sprinted off his line to make an authoritative punch out on a ball near the top of the box where other goalkeepers would have been indecisive, and he showed even more good, decision-making in coming off his line again to get a strong hand on the ball and deny Pepe, who was clean through on goal.
On two occasions, Nwabali also denied Seko Fofana a chance to score from 35 yards out.
In the build-up to the game, Nwabali was taken to task about not keeping a clean sheet in his two previous games. His confident response was that the clean sheet would come. And here it was against Ivory Coast.
Reacting to the win, the 27-year-old hopes the confidence that has been shown him can transfer through to the rest of the team.
“When the coach believes in you, you bring more confidence with you into the team,” Nwabali told BBC.
“I feel like I can do more to bring that confidence into the team. I don’t feel like Nigeria has seen my top performance.”
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Peter Rufai, also revealed that Nwabali’s performance exudes confidence which helped the Eagles defence.
“Nwabali did well against Ivory Coast,” Rufai said during his post-match analysis on AfroSports.
“His presence and confidence have rubbed off on the defence line which is good for the team. He showed his class making great saves which kept the Eagles in the game before the winner came.”
Despite Nwabali’s brilliant contribution to the crucial win over Ivory Coast, former Eagles captain Austin Okocha was quick to play down his heroics in the encounter insisting that the Chippa United goalie was not tested by the Ivorian side as Nigeria defended well.
“Well, I think they all played well, he (Nwabali) played well as well,” Okocha said in a video interview with Nigerian journalist Calista Enejele in Ivory Coast.
“He (Nwabali) played his role. He wasn’t really tested today because the team defended very well but he showed good signs of a good goalkeeper.”
Meanwhile, Chippa United may lose Nwabali after only 15 months at the club. He has attracted interest from Belgian club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and there have also been enquiries from Saudi Arabia
Nwabali has elevated himself to a deserved move away from Chippa United after only 24 appearances.
He signed for Chippa in October 2022 and only played nine games through the 2022/23 season as Namibian keeper Lloyd Kazapua played ahead of him.
So far this season, Nwabali worked his way to the front of the queue and has been dishing out solid performances with seven clean sheets in 15 games.
