It pains me till today – Maduka Okoye recounts AFCON 2021 error against Tunisia

Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye has admitted that he regrets the error that ultimately led to the team's elimination from the round of 16 at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Super Eagles led by Augustine Eguavoen had defeated Egypt, Guinea Bissau, and Sudan in the group stages of the tournament but lost to Tunisia after Okoye's mistake. Okoye misjudged a shot from Youssef Msakni, allowing the ball to creep past him and into the net.

The team's troubles were further compounded when Alex Iwobi was sent off just seven minutes after being brought on, sparking outrage on social media.

Following the incident, Okoye did not receive any call-ups to play for Nigeria and spent most of his time on the bench.

In an interview with Oma, Okoye opened up about the incident.

He said: “At that moment, I told myself I should have done better. It pains me till today, to be honest.

“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’ve been training hard, improving in the last two years because I don’t want things like that to happen again.

“Mistakes happen, last week, Manuel Neuer, who is one of the best, made a mistake. It’s part of the game, and it was hard for me as a young boy to go through it after it happened.

“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.

“At this stage, I’m not even reading the nonsense on social media anymore. Some people still talk bad about Cristiano Ronaldo despite his achievements.

“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.”