When Udinese hosts Como in Serie A later today, April 6, Super Eagles of Nigeria goalkeeper Maduka Okoye is expected to return to his starting position.
Maduka Okoye withdrew from international duty earlier this month due to a thigh injury sustained during training, according to Naija News. He was discharged prior to the Super Eagles’ 2-2 tie with Jordan, despite having participated in the team’s 2-1 victory over Iran.
Prior to the match, Udinese head coach Kosta Runjaic gave a favorable team update, noting that Okoye was not one of the players with fitness issues.
For the first time since the international break, the Italian team practiced with a nearly full roster on Saturday.
Everyone is available except for Jordan Zemura, Adam Buksa, and Alessandro Zanoli. After the international break, everyone was back together today, Saturday. He told the club’s website, “Buksa is improving, and I hope he’ll start training with the team again next week.”
Runjaic also said that Jesper Karlstrom is treading carefully when it comes to discipline, that Keinan Davis will miss the game due to suspension.
“Keinan Davis is a very important player for us, but unfortunately he’s suspended for this one,” he stated. Jesper Karlström is likewise in danger of being suspended, but he has recently taken care to avoid being booked. Either way, we have other options. Since we don’t have another player like Davis on the team, it will be difficult to replace him. We’ve experimented with many approaches; we’ll find out on Monday.
This season, Okoye has made 22 league appearances and maintained six clean sheets. He is contributing significantly to Udinese’s efforts to escape the relegation zone.
