Illness robs in form Okoye opportunity to redeem himself of Afcon howler 

Ill health has robbed in form Super Eagles goalkeeper Mudake Okoye an opportunity to redeem himself of his howler that led to Nigeria's ouster at the 2021 Afcon in Cameroon early in the year.

Okoye’s inability to deal with a long-range shot led to Eagles' ouster at the tournament.

Outrage greeted his mistake and many Nigerians wanted the doors of the Super Eagles shut against him.

But the Watford football club of England goalkeeper who is on loan at Sparta Rotterdam in the Eredivisie has been displaying a fine form for the Dutch side since the unfortunate incident at the Nations Cup. 

Watford technical expert's conclusion Okoye’s form would have enabled him to win the hearts of Nigerians especially if he had been able to repeat his feats in Holland against the Black Stars of Ghana in a must-win Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches on Friday and next week Tuesday.

According to Watford technical experts, Okoye they conclude has kept an unblemished record between the sticks in March 2022.

Okoye kept two clean sheets in the month to help Sparta in their fight against relegation, with De Kasteelheren picking up four points from six.

Earning a 1-0 win over Go Ahead Eagles, Okoye had a quiet afternoon on March 12, but the same couldn’t be said for Saturday’s goalless draw with NEC.

The Netherlands’ oldest club weathered the storm and relied on Okoye’s heroics to keep the scores level. NEC had six shots on target and 70 per cent possession, but couldn’t make their control on the game count in an admirable Sparta performance.

Okoye should have had three clean sheets over the month, had his side’s game against Vitesse Arnhem been completed.

Making nine impressive stops in an end-to-end encounter, Okoye saved Loïs Openda’s penalty and kept an unbreached goal for 92 minutes before crowd trouble put a premature end to the game.

Okoye had to be dropped from the team that will play Ghana because of an undisclosed illness.