WORLD CUP ONE TO WATCH: Vincent Enyeama
Goalscoring keeper can make headlines
WITH the World Cup draw just over a week away, excitement is already reaching fever pitch ahead of the big tournament next year.
Each week, we provide the lowdown on a player who could make a big impact in South Africa with a full scouting report on the man in question.
If you think there is somebody ready to make a massive splash next summer, please recommend him using the feedback form at the foot of the page.
Name: Vincent Enyeama
Club: Hapoel Tel Aviv
Age: 27
Position: Goalkeeper
Statistics:
Appearances: 17, Goals: 2, Yellow cards: 1, red cards: 1
Following some consistently impressive displays for Hapoel Tel Aviv in recent seasons, Enyeama has established himself as the Nigeria number one and a good World Cup could catapult him to stardom across the world.
Intriguingly, the Nigerian number one takes penalties, both his goals this season have come from the spot and he could light up the World Cup if he does score in South Africa.
Enyeama has been performing extremely well in recent seasons, showing steady improvement from year to year and now he is playing the best football of his career. The Nigerian custodian has utterly proven this year that he's far above the level of the Israeli top flight.
At 16, he started with semi-professional club Ibom Stars, played four seasons with local giants Enyimba Aba, before moving to Israel. During his spell with Enyimba he won the CAF Champions League twice, with one noteworthy mention: He was always substituted before penalty shootouts.
"I don't know why I was substituted before penalties, but it worked," he said in an interview back in 2006. "In Israel I stopped many penalties and now everyone knows that I can handle penalties."
After three seasons with Enyimba and one with FC Heartland, Enyeama moved to a minor club in Israel, Bnei Yehuda FC. He had a fantastic first season, showing amazing physical and athletic skills. Moreover, Enyeama showed from the first moment that he differs from many African goalkeepers in his decision making process.
"The Cat," as he's nicknamed, showed that he's not driven by emotions but by a fantastic, calm reading of the game. But Enyeama also quickly showed the downside of his personality. In an interview in Nigeria he said that he perhaps made the wrong decision joining Bnei Yehuda, adding that he had offers from France, Greece, Turkey and English side Bolton. "In the beginning I wanted to escape here," he said.
His first season with Bnei Yehuda ended by reaching the state cup final and gaining a historic place for the team in the UEFA Cup. Enyeama also had a good tournament with Nigeria in the 2006 CAN; he stopped three penalties in the quarter-final against Tunisia, but couldn't prevent a loss to Ivory Coast in the semi-final.
Enyeama also impressed during the 2006/2007 season, despite some ups and downs in his ability during the season and interest from unnamed English sides. He moved to Hapoel Tel Aviv in the summer of 2007 but in the beginning he didn't live up to expectations. Enyeama wasn't consistent enough and had a hard time controlling his temper.
Hapoel Tel Aviv endured a poor season in 2007/2008, but Enyeama just kept on improving. He proved to be a real leader helping the team to avoid relegation and reach the state cup final. This included an emotional letter he wrote to his fellow players, encouraging them to fight together for the club.
Slowly he started to feel that he belonged to the club, which will be an important ingredient for the success of Enyeama in any future team. On the international level, he had problems with Nigeria coach Berti Vogts, lost his place in the team and didn't play in the 2008 CAN.
Enyeama regained his place as Nigeria's number one goalie last season and has produced some unbelievable performances in the Israeli league. This occurred despite Hapoel Tel Aviv preventing him from participating in the Olympic Games.
His only shortcoming is his height - he stands at just 1.80 metres (around 5ft 11ins). Despite having a great natural jump and positioning, Enyeama might struggle against tall strikers in Europe when the ball is crossed into the box, mainly from corners. His aerial ability has improved this year but his height means it will never be of a high calibre.
Enyeama's extensive personality could be fruitful for any top club. So the stage is set for the next phase in this African "Cat's" career.
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This article has 4 comments
Vincent Enyeama is a top quality keeper and I am gutted that after several enquiries by Arsenal, he was not taken. He is better than all the keepers Arsenal currently parades. To say that he is on the come up is a misstatement. Enyeama has been performing consistently for ages despite his relative young age as a keeper.
Rewind to 2000 world cup; Nigeria lost its previous two matches against Argentina and Sweden with its then number one keeper Ike. The last match against England was insignificant as Nigeria was already out of the competition. Enyeama was given the chance to start that game and he pulled off a fantastic save from a Paul Scholes scorcher which ensured that the match ended goalless in a game that many expected them to be destroyed.
He was not even in the team during the entire qualifiers as he was writing his exams then and only made the team few months to the world cup.
Jay P
By Francis Igwe.. Posted November 29 2009 at 2:05 PM.
I am a Nigerian and I am so glad to read about my national goal keeper in the NOTW. Thanks and I wish Nigeria and England a good world cup and may be we play in the Final of SA 2010; with an absolute winner; Nigeria ofcourse.
By Justice Awe.. Posted November 29 2009 at 10:24 AM.
i am not objective but in my opinion he is one of the best goalkeeper in the world today.
his biggest mistake to move to bney yehuda fc made him a better keeper although it made him to stragle only to the israeli league and not to the highest level in the world.
By alon.. Posted November 27 2009 at 9:36 PM.
I've been following Vinie for a few years now, and in my personal opinion, he can EASILY play for TOP football teams in England and Spain.
It's just crazy that he is not playing for one of the big teams in Europe.
By Barmy army.. Posted November 27 2009 at 12:00 PM.