English Premier League side Crystal Palace are presently on a training tour of Singapore and Australia but without nine first team players, some due to fitness while others failed to meet entry requirements as at when travel arrangements were made.
Travellers entering Singapore have to be fully vaccinated same as Australia but the restrictions were lifted earlier this month. A little bit too late for Palace to include some of their first team players in their squad.
Coach Patrick Viera ensured that the senior players left behind in London which includes Wilfred Zaha, Eberechi Eze, Christian Benteke, Marc Guehi and new signing Cheick Doucore gets sufficient game time to catch up with their mates on tour.
To that effect they played a game against Ipswich Town with young Nigerian goalkepper Owen Olamidayo Goodman getting his first team piece of action. He was in goal for the first 45 minutes of the 4-2 win.
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Goodman has in the past voiced out his preference to play for Nigeria even though he is eligible for England and Canada. The 18 year old was born in Canada to a Nigerian mother and a British father.
He however feels more inclined to playing for Nigeria and even met with Nigeria football legend Kanu Nwankwo when he came to Canada.
“Whoever calls me first, I will honour the invite. I will be glad to play for my country (Nigeria) if I get the opportunity I will grab it”, he said.
“My family has a good relationship with Kanu Nwankwo when he came to Canada. My mum struck up a conversation, introduced me. We talked about Nigeria and our football history. I want to be a part of this in the future”, he concluded.
This will no doubt put him on the radar of the coach of the Nigerian team Jose Peseiro who is keen on growing his pool of options in the goalkepping department of the team.
