My 2021 AFCON blunder still hurts – Maduka Okoye

Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye has admitted he is still rankled by the disappointment that followed his blunder which caused the Super Eagles to be prematurely ousted from the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon.

Against Tunisia in the Round of 16, Okoye misjudged the bounce of a shot from outside the box and it will be the goal that eliminated the Super Eagles.

Two years since then, Okoye said he has yet to get over the disappointment he caused a whole country.

“At that moment, I told myself I should have done better. It pains me till today, to be honest,” the goalkeeper recalled the incident in a YouTube interview with Oma Akatugba.

“You 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.

“I’m not just talking about what I read on social media, it’s more about the feeling of letting your teammates down, your family down, and letting your country down.

“People will always say something bad about you. I know myself that I didn’t do good in that situation, and I know that I let my teammates and my country down in that situation.

“And I’m still to this day unhappy and sad about it, and I wish I could do differently, but it happened and I learned from my mistake.”

Okoye has since been recalled to the Super Eagles.