Chijioke Aniagboso will be the man in goal Sunday morning when the Flying Eagles begin their quest for U20 World Cup glory against the Dominican Republic in Mendoza, Argentina, after he held on to the No 1 shirt.
“Chijioke (Aniagboso) is the No 1 goalkeeper,” a top team official informed SCORENigeria from the Flying Eagles camp in Argentina.
The Giant Brillars shot stopper wrestled the No 1 jersey from main rival and giant Water FC goalkeeper Nathaniel Nwosu at the U20 AFCON in Egypt in March.
Nwosu shone at the WAFU B qualifiers last May in Niamey, Niger Republic, that he was named in the Tournament XI.
However, he lost his place in the first team after the Flying Eagles fell 1-0 to eventual champions Senegal at the U20 AFCON.
Aniagboso, who was designated as the team’s first choice at inception, was outstanding as the team fought back from that opening day setback to beat both hosts Egypt and Mozambique to qualify for the quarterfinal of the U20 AFCON.
He was composed even under unrelenting pressure and pulled off several big saves for the team to finish third best in Egypt.
The reward for this performance was a first-ever call-up to the Super Eagles for the AFCON qualifiers against Guinea Bissau.
In Argentina, Nwosu started in goal against local team Club Almirante Brown in a 3-2 win, while Aniagboso was picked for the 3-3 draw with Colombia in the team’s final test game before Sunday’s showdown.
