The head coach of Nigeria, Gernot Rohr has confirmed that Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, will start in Wednesday’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, clash against Guinea.
The Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper caused several moments of panic against the Swallows but will likely retain his place against the National Elephants.
Against Burundi in their Group B opener, the goalkeeper made a crucial save to deny Amissi Cedric from giving the debutants a shock lead, but as the game progressed, the Kaizer Chief goalkeeper made several errors.
He added that the shot-stopper will be maintained as the number-one ahead of Katsina United’s Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Deportivo de La Coruña’s Francis Uzoho.
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Nigeria head to the match after defeating Burundi 1-0 over the weekend while Guinea played a draw against Madagascar.
Addressing the media during a pre-match conference on Tuesday, June 25; Rohr revealed that Akpeyi was consistent since Ikechukwu Ezenwa sustained an injury during the build-up to the competition.
As such, he is likely to retain his place in the squad when Nigeria take on the National Elephants in Wednesday’s fixture.
“Akpeyi played in the first game because, in the three weeks of training, he was number one,” Rohr told media.
“I don’t decide on this kind of issue because we have a good goalkeepers’ coach Alloy [Agu]. Even my assistant, Imama [Amapakabo] is a former goalkeeper.
“Ezenwa had an injury on the knee in our first training in Asaba, so he had to rest; came back slowly and in the process lost his number one position.
“In the friendlies, Akpeyi played, he did well and there was no reason to change. Now Ezenwa is coming back and there is a real competition; since we all agreed that Francis Uzoho is the third choice.
“So against Guinea, we’ll have a big decision to take on who will start the game. Akpeyi kept a clean slate and he kept us in the game against Burundi by saving a difficult ball.
“That is a good argument to maintain him as the first choice.”
