Louw opts for back seat as Nwabili and Kazapua shine

Chippa United’s goalkeeper representation at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast has seen many give the club’s goalkeeper trainer Sean Louw a pat on the back.

However, Louw has refused to take credit, insisting his shot-stoppers in Stanley Nwabili and Llyod Kazapua went to Afcon mainly because of their individual dedication and hard work.

Nwabili has inspired Nigeria to the quarterfinals, and they will face Angola on Friday, while Kazapua had a decent tournament with his nation Namibia, albeit they’ve already exited the competition after losing 0-3 to Angola in the round of 16 tie last Saturday.

“Llyod was already in the national team when he joined Chippa [from Cape Umoya in August 2021]. For Stanley, I think the turning point was when Nigeria coach [José Peseiro] visited us [in December]… he watched us training and went to one of our games, so I think that’s where Stanley impressed him.

"As a club we feel honoured to have had two keepers at Afcon but it’s not really about me because I am not the one playing on the field,” Louw, who previously served at Banyana Banyana, told Sowetan.

“Both gentlemen [Nwabili and Kazapua] worked very hard to achieve this and credit must be given to them for their commitment. The game belongs to the players.”

Nwabili, who’s Chippa's first-choice shot-stopper, is tied with Bafana Bafana’s Ronwen Williams with most clean sheets (3) in Ivory Coast, having leaked just one goal from four outings thus far. Chilli Boys’ second-option keeper Kazapua started all Namibia’s four games, keeping two clean sheets with seven goals conceded. Nwabili, 27, had never received a call-up from the Super Eagles before Afcon.

Kazapua conceding seven goals isn’t really a true reflection of how he fared in Ivory Coast because he made a number of crucial saves in almost every game the Brave Warriors played. The 34-year-old keeper is capped 34 times by Namibia.

The ever-modest  31-year-old Louw doesn’t rate sending two keepers to Afcon as a career highlight. “If Nigeria win this Afcon with Stanley, on paper that would be my career highlight, but in my heart there are bigger moments like giving young boys professional debuts ... that matters the most,” Louw noted.