Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, who just staged a come-back to the team has revealed in an interview with OmaSports TV, that he had sleepless nights after his error cost Super Eagles a place in the quarter-finals of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
Recall that Youssef Msakni ās shot from outside the penalty area had resulted in a goal for Tunisia which led to Nigeriaās exit from the tournament. Afterwards, Nigerians took on social media to pour vituperations on the Udinese goalkeeper. However, three years after, it would seem time has not completely healed the wounds as Okoye stated that the pain still exists in his mind.
According to him: āAt that moment, I told myself I should have done better. It pains me till today, to be honest.
āYou 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.
āIāve been training hard, improving in the last two years because I donāt want things like that to happen again.
āMistakes happen, last week, Manuel Neuer, who is one of the best, made a mistake. Itās part of the game, and it was hard for me as a young boy to go through it after it happened.
āIām not just talking about what I read on social media, itās more about the feeling of letting your teammates down, your family down, and letting your country down.
āAt this stage, Iām not even reading the nonsense on social media anymore. Some people still talk bad about Cristiano Ronaldo despite his achievements.
āPeople will always say something bad about you. I know myself that I didnāt do good in that situation, and I know that I let my teammates and my country down in that situation.
āAnd Iām still to this day unhappy and sad about it, and I wish I could do differently, but it happened, and I learnt from my mistake.ā
Peoplesmind