Super Eagles goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme, has said that making remarkable saves in the colours of Nigeria last Saturday in Dar es Salaam was not a big deal to him.
The Wolverhampton Wanderers goalie made fantastic saves between the sticks for Nigeria to keep score at 0-0 in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Tanzania and Nigeria on Saturday.
He dived full length to save Mwamba Samatta’s shot in the 15th minute, saved a well taken free kick by the same player in the 22 minute and he also stopped Thomas Ulimwengu’s low drive midway in the second half. These are just some of the saves by the agile goal tender.
Ikeme in an exclusive interview with New Telegraph noted that those saves were simply his duty on the pitch. He said: “Football is a team game, I was only playing my role. Don’t forget the defenders blocked some shots that did not even get to me while some moves never got to the goal areas as well. “My happiness is the fact that I featured for Nigeria. I thought it might never happen. I believe I will do much more if I have the opportunity.”
Ikeme said the game against Tanzania was a highly tense affair and not as easy as many people thought. “It was a keen contest and if you watch again you will see that the home team players were very determined to win the match.
Every move was crucial and it never looked like a group match but like a final of sort,” the keeper noted. Ikeme got the nod of Head Coach, Sunday Oliseh, following the late withdrawal of team captain and number one goalie, Vincent Enyeama.
