Super Eagles No 1 goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali is grieving over the death of his parents and this may have caused his South African club to lose a league game, according to the coach.
On Saturday, Chippa United fell 1-0 to TS Galaxy in the Betway Premiership with many blaming Nwabali’s error for the match winner.
The Super Eagles shot stopper attempted a quick throw to a teammate after making an initial save, but instead gifted possession to Damir Sosvic, who capitalized on the mistake.
Chippa United coach Thabo September said his insistence on Nwabali to play the game may have backfired.
“Where we lost it, maybe it’s from the bench. From me, from the coaching side, because my goalkeeper did plead with me that he was not okay and he wanted to rest,” the coach told farpost.
“He’s going through a lot. Him being the number one goalkeeper, I pushed him and said he must play. Sometimes you must listen. For me as a coach, just growing into that.
Despite the costly mistake, the coach said Nwabali was solid overall.
“He didn’t have much to do, maybe towards the end when we made mistakes and when we were chasing the game. But other than that, he did very well,” he remarked.
