It wasn’t the best of weekends for two of the Super Eagles goalkeepers (Maduka Okoye and Daniel Akpeyi) invited by coach Gernot Rohr for the upcoming AFCON qualifiers against Sierra Leone as they shipped in a total of seven goals together.
In Holland, Okoye made his league debut for Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam but it wasn’t a good one for the 21-year old as he conceded four goals as his team were roundly beaten by Heerenveen at the Sparta-Stadion Het Kasteel.
Henk Veerman bagged a brace for the visitors in the game with Benjamin Nygren and Jan Paul van Hecke scoring the other goals that dented Okoye’s big moment of making a maiden appearance in the Dutch top division.
It wasn’t any better for the more experienced Super Eagle shot-stopper, Akpeyi who was in goal for Kaizer Chiefs in their 3-0 loss to fierce rivals Orlando Pirates in Saturday’s MTN8 semi-final, first leg match at Orlando Stadium.
Daniel Akpeyi of Kaizer Chiefs save a penalty during the 2019 Telkom Knockout quarter final match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Pietermaritzburg, on 2 November 2019 ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Zakhele Lepasa, Vincent Pule and Thembinkosi Lorch were on target to ensure a comfortable win for Pirates.
It was a huge victory for coach Josef Zinnbauer and his men as they put one foot into the final of this competition in their bid for their first piece of silverware since 2014.