Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, has openly expressed regret over his inaction that led to the national team’s elimination from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Okoye, whose error led to the Eagles’ first loss in the competition, said he had sleepless nights following the error.
Having won their three group games, Nigeria look very promising and are favorites to win the tournament.
But a surprise came in the knockout stages when Tunisia’s Youssef Msakni fired a shot from outside the box and Okoye was unable to stop it going into the net.
Nigeria’s exit was a painful one, especially as Tunisia had fought hard to progress from the group stage and finished as one of the best third-placed teams.
In an interview with OmaSports TV, the Udinese goalkeeper stated that the pain was still in his mind.
In his words, “At the time, I told myself that I should have done better. Honestly, it hurts me to this day.
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“You could see it was a mistake because I had to keep the ball from going into the goal. If I want to play at Inter Milan, then I have to play better in situations like that.
“I have trained hard and continued to improve in the last two years because I don’t want something like that to happen again.
“Mistakes can happen, last week Manuel Neuer, who is one of the best players, made a mistake. It’s part of the game, and it was difficult for me as a young boy to get over it after that happened.
“I’m not just talking about what I read on social media, it’s more about the feeling of letting your teammates down, your family down and letting your country down.
“At this stage, I don’t even read the crap on social media anymore. Some people still talk bad about Cristiano Ronaldo even though he has achieved a lot.
“People will always say bad things about you. I know myself that I didn’t do well in that situation, and I know that I let my teammates and my country down in that situation.
“And to this day I still feel unhappy and sad about it, and I wish I could have done things differently, but it happened and I learned from my mistake.”
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