One of Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ most reliable hands between the sticks of the goalpost, the former Lille goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, has been named in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Team of the Decade (TOTD), 2011-2020, by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).
In the list dominated by players with English Premier League experience, the 32-year-old keeper, who is Nigeria’s joint most-capped player in history with 101 international appearances to his name, is the only Nigerian player featured.
The IFFHS sported a 4-3-3 formation for the positioning and the ex-Super Eagles captain starts in goal for the TOTD. Pyramid’s Ahmed Fathy from Egypt, Al-Duhail SC’s Medhi Benatia from Morocco, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly from Senegal and Manchester United’s Eric Bailly from Ivory Coast constitute the defense-line.
Consisting entirely of EPL stars, the midfield has Ivory Coast and Manchester City legend Yaya Toure, Swansea City’s Ghana star Andre Ayew and Manchester City’s Algeria dazzler Riyad Mahrez.
The EPL influence stretches into the attack as well. Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the Gabonese captain, Liverpool duo of Egyptian Mohamed Salah and Senegalese Sadio Mane, who shared the Premier League Golden Boot award for the 2018-19 season were picked as attackers.
Unlike the men’s TOTD with only a single Nigerian representation, in the TOTD for the women, four members of the current Super Falcons made the cut. Two are defenders: Osinachi Ohale defender for Spanish Primera division club Madrid CFF and Onome Ebi player for Henan Zianye in the Chinese Women’s Super League.
The remaining two were Ngozi Okobi attacking midfielder for Eskilstuna United DFF in the Swedish Damallsvenskan League and Asisat Oshoala forward for Barcelona Femeni in the Spanish Primera Iberdrola.
The pair of Ebi and Ohale slot in at left-back and right-back respectively. Okobi is one of two holding midfielders while Oshoala is the main striker.
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