Newscenter Media News Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, has publicly expressed his regret for his inaction that led to the national team’s exit from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Okoye, whose mistake led to a first defeat for the Eagles in that competition, said he had sleepless nights after the error.
Having won their three group game, Nigeria were looking very promising and stood as the favourites to win the tournament.
But the shock came in the knockout stages when Tunisia’s Youssef Msakni fired a shot from outside the penalty area and Okoye could not stop it from entering the net.
The exit was painful to Nigerians, especially because Tunisia had struggled to advance from the group stages, finishing as one of the best third teams.
In an interview with OmaSports TV, the Udinese goalkeeper stated that the pain still exists in his mind.
In his words, “At that moment, I told myself I should have done better. It pains me till today, to be honest.
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“You could see it was a mistake because I had to keep the ball out of the goal. If I want to play at Inter Milan, then I have to do better in such situations.
“I’ve been training hard, improving in the last two years because I don’t want things like that to happen again.
“Mistakes happen, last week, Manuel Neuer, who is one of the best, made a mistake. It’s part of the game, and it was hard for me as a young boy to go through it after it 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’m not even reading the nonsense on social media anymore. Some people still talk bad about Cristiano Ronaldo despite his achievements.
“People will always say something bad about you. I know myself that I didn’t do good in that situation, and I know that I let my teammates and my country down in that situation.
“And I’m still to this day unhappy and sad about it, and I wish I could do differently, but it happened and I learned from my mistake.”
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