Last October, a largely unknown Francis Uzoho became the youngest foreign goalkeeper to feature in Spain’s La Liga when Deportivo La Coruna held Eibar to a goalless draw. He followed that with another impressive performance in a 1 – 2 home loss to Girona and caught the attention of Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr who handed Uzoho his maiden senior national team debut as a second-half substitute in last November’s 4-2 friendly win over Argentina in Krasnodar.
Fast -forward 7 months, and Uzoho is in line to add another record to his name by becoming the youngest goalkeeper among the 32 participating nations at the 2018 World Cup as well as Nigeria’s youngest goalkeeper to ever play at the World Cup when he takes to the pitch against Croatia on June 16th.
African-based pair of Chippa United’s Daniel Akpeyi and Enyimba’s Ikechukwu Ezenwa were in the front-line for a starting spot in the Super Eagles goal at this year’s World Cup, but a sudden twist in the tale now has the younger Francis Uzoho as most probably the first choice goalkeeper at the global show-piece, after featuring in the Super Eagles’ last 5 matches.
Uzoho’s professional football career came to prominence as a member of the title-winning Golden Eaglets squad for the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup alongside the likes of Kelechi Iheanacho, Isaac Success and Dele Alampasu. He was the third choice keeper and so did not play in any game at the World Cup, but quietly joined the famous Aspire Academy in Qatar before he signed for Deportivo La Coruna in 2016. After a year with the youth team, Uzoho is gradually making his way into the first team and an impressive World Cup campaign could fasten the process.