Former Super Eagles’ defender, Patrick Pascal has added his voice of support to the recent move by the Nigerian national team’s back-up goalkeeper, Emil Maduka Okoye to Sparta Rotterdam of Holland as he believes playing in the Dutch Eredivisie will help the Germany-born shot-stopper improve his game.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that Pascal is also of a view that Okoye will be able to grow faster in a more competitive league than he had while featuring for the second d team of Fortuna Dusseldorf of Germany in the fourth-tier division in the country of his birth.
While adding thoughts about what the Eagles stand to gain from Maduka in years to come, Pascal , who is now the Nigerian team’s co-coordinator, said further during Mega Sports on Star 101.5 FM Lagos that the young shot-stopper will gain more experience and develop deeper level of confidence with frequent appearances in the Dutch top-flight.
He concluded with a verdict that, while Maduka is youthful like Eagles’ current number one choice, Francis Odinaka Uzoho, the new kid on the block can equally give the older duo of Daniel Akpeyi and Ikechukwu Ezenwa additional competition for the starting spot.
‘P.P.’ is also of a view that the Eagles will be better off for the development that will see Okoye feature for the club that once had Ahmed Musa, Dele Adeleye and Sani Kaita on their roster, as he reckons that playing regularly in one of Europe’s major football leagues will rub off positively on the tall mulatto, who had his national team debut last October in a high-profile friendly against Brazil.
The amiable backroom staff member in the national team, who played as a right-back for Wikki Tourist of Bauchi and Shooting Stars of Ibadan during his heyday and was part of Nigeria’s under-23 squad that won the 1996 Olympic Games’ soccer event at Atlanta ’96 in the United States of America, posited that Okoye should stay focused in order to keep growing with each passing day.
Pascal opined: “Maduka moving to Holland is good for him and for the national team. It is good because it will help hum to develop and gain more experience. He will also be able to grow in confidence and improve his game.
“He is a young goalkeeper and he is still growing, which means he will still be useful for the team for a long time to come. Just like Uzoho is, Maduka is young, but he can compete with Ezenwa and Akpeyi. He is still very young, and he will continue improving as he continues growing.”
