In football, the goalkeeper is the last line of defense, and so often, the man who is left with all the blames most times when a goal is scored. Sometimes, they are the heroes of penalty shootouts; other times, they are not.
But throughout the history of world football, many goalkeepers have become absolute legends of the game, etching their careers into the history books forever.
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Fans of football in the past years have seen some superb goalkeepers take their place between the sticks. For this reasons, there has been a need to celebrate them to the extent led to setting aside a day for goalkeepers. The international goalkeepers day is 14th April every year.
Nigeria, over the years, has got a lot of goal keepers who have done well in the colours of Nigeria. Each dispensation of the Super Eagles and their strength is determined by how Wonderful the goalkeeper is. How good the 1994 super eagles were was largely dependant on the exceptional services of Peter Rufai. In Nigeria’s 1980 squad, there was Emmanuel Okala and best ogedegbe.
Two of which were one of Nigeria’s finest till date. Their names ring a bell when the triumph of 1980 is being mentioned. Dosu Joseph’s exploit in the Atlanta Olympics is another magnificent achievement of him when telling his story. And as for Vincent Enyama, the history books of Nigeria will always want to put him as one of the best if not the best Nigeria has ever produced.
Many goalkeepers in the world today, retired or active, are being remembered for their contribution to the game, for both club and country. You could call Iker Casillas of Spain, Peter Shelton who was fantastic for England, the orange boys goalie, Edwin Van Der Sar, the world cup winning Manuel Neuer, not forgetting Dino Zoff, the Manchester United ace Peter Schmeichel, the balon D’ or winning Lev Yashin and the ageless Gianluigi Buffon. These are goalkeepers who have graced the round leather game.
Nigeria’s Frances Uzoho took to instagram to celebrate other goalkeepers like him. As he celebrates them, he also urges all to stay indoors and stay safe. Uzoho is one of Nigeria’s finest goalkeepers in this present generation for the Super Eagles. He manned the post in the 2018 world cup for Nigeria as their first choice at 19.
That was when Nigeria had goalkeeping problems, no thanks to the illness of Carl Ikeme, Nigeria’s supposed first choice goalie before the world cup. On this day Sports247 join hands with Uzoho to celebrate him, other Nigerian goalkeepers and the ones in the world at large.
