Nwabali Doubtful for AFCON, Says Club Coach
Nigeria’s hopes of having Stanley Nwabali between the posts at the Africa Cup of Nations have been thrown into doubt, with his club coach Vusimuzi Vilakazi revealing the goalkeeper is struggling with both ankle and hand injuries.
The 29-year-old Chippa United shot-stopper was Nigeria’s first choice at the last AFCON, where the Super Eagles reached the final before losing 2-1 to Ivory Coast.
Since then, Nwabali has cemented his place as the national team’s regular goalkeeper, earning 27 caps.
However, he has not featured since Nigeria’s World Cup qualifying playoff defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo last month in Rabat, where they lost on penalties.
Vilakazi admitted the situation looks bleak.
‘I doubt it, looking at the state of his injury,’ he told supersport.com. ‘He is confident he will recover soon, but the reality is that he is still injured. The ankle is a problem, and the hand needs surgery after he aggravated it in Morocco.’
Nigeria have included Nwabali in their provisional squad but are yet to confirm their final 28-man list. The Super Eagles begin their AFCON campaign in Group C against Tanzania in Fes on December 23, before facing Tunisia and Uganda.
