Adeleye, Olorunleke, Sochima Provide Super Eagles with Fresh Goalkeeping Blood

Adeleye, Olorunleke, Sochima Provide Super Eagles with Fresh Goalkeeping Blood

By Gbenga Gboyega

One positive note to take from Super Eagles' AFCON qualifying match against the Leone Stars is the fresh breed of goalkeepers coming through the ranks, with Adebayo Adeleye leading the pack.

BSNSports.com.ng reported earlier on Adeleye's debut, starting on a winning note, despite several call-ups previously ending as an unused sub, but the 3-2 away win by Nigeria inadvertently ushered in a new era for the team.

Asides from Adeleye of Hapoel Jerusalem making his debut, the other options available in the team are Rivers United's Victor Sochima and NPL's reigning champions Enyimba goalie Ojo Olorunleke.

Both feature in the domestic league and await their bit at the cherry, as they watched their foreign-based teammate take his chance at the center stage.

Ojo Olorunleke endured mixed performances in the league, playing only thrice through 18 MatchDays in the regulation round, before manning the post for Enyimba in four out of their five Super Six playoff games.

Ojo helped his team recover from finishing the regular season third-best in Group A, to clinching the Nigeria Premier League title, as a result of conceding lesser goals (4) than Remo Stars' Kayode Bankole (5).

Victor Sochima on the flip side, featured 20 times across three different competitions for Rivers United both domestically and on the continent, establishing his importance for the Pride of Rivers.

Sochima helped Rivers to a third-best finish after the championship playoffs, conceding as low as Ojo (4), albeit was a victim of the team's lack of will at the other end of the pitch, scoring just 6 goals in 5 games.

These trio minds constitute a fresh breed of goalkeepers available to star for the Super Eagles of Nigeria moving forward, with the team yet to restore parity to the good old days of Best Ogedengbe, Peter Rufai, and Vincent Enyeama, to mention but a few.