Enyeama: The History Maker

There is no better inspiration before a global tournament like the World Cup than to be honoured few weeks before the competition, and that is the luxury Nigeria's first choice goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama will be enjoying in the next few days

Vincent Enyeama on Monday, not only became the first Nigerian, but also the first goalkeeper and first player from English speaking Africa to be named France’s Ligue 1 African player of the season.

The 31-year-old, who is set to feature at the World Cup finals for Nigeria in June, has played all 37 championship games for his club, Lille this season conceding just 25 goals. At one point in the season which ended last week, he went 1,062 minutes without conceding a goal in the championship. Enyeama impressed football enthusiasts by keeping a clean sheet for 11 consecutive matches.
With 82 caps to his credit in the national team, he helped the Super Eagles  to win the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 and will be playing with them in the World Cup in Brazil.

The Trophy for the Best African Ligue 1 player was renamed the Marc-Vivien Foé Award in 2011 in tribute to the Cameroonian player who died aged 28 of a heart attack during the 2003 Confederations Cup semi-final at Lyon's Gerland Stadium on June 26th 2003.
Enyeama beat Cote d'Ivoire defender Serge Aurier, who plays for Toulouse, and Lyon’s Cameroon defender Henri Bedimo.

Enyeama, who captained Nigeria to Africa Cup of Nations success last year, succeeds Borussia Dortmund’s Gabonese international striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who won it after a successful season with St Etienne last season.
The Nigerian had lost the Professional Footballers Union (UNFP) best goalkeeper award on Sunday evening to Paris Saint Germain's Salvatore Sirigu.

The Lille goalkeeper has joined the impressive line up of winners of the Radio France International-France 24 best African prize, named in honour of the late Cameroonian midfielder

Enyeama was picked by a jury composed of French football journalists after each member selected three names from a list of 10 players previously drawn up by the RFI and France 24 sports departments.

Meanwhile, Enyeama has spoken of his great pride at becoming the first goalkeeper to be named French Ligue 1 African Player of the Season. He told BBC Sport: "It's amazing, a great honour and I deeply appreciate it. I must first give glory to God, my team-mates, family and our beautiful fans for their remarkable support. "It's a reward for team effort and having great people in front of me. Together we've endured a tough but interesting season."

He also hopes winning the award will lead to greater recognition for goalkeepers. It's not easy for goalkeepers to win among outfield players, so this one is special. It will hopefully encourage and open the doors for other players between the sticks. Outfield players easily get all the plaudits, but those preventing them from grabbing the headlines don't get similar accolades," he said.

Meanwhile, the 31-year-old insists he will not be adversely affected by missing out on the French Ligue 1 goalkeeper of the year award. He has been the standout performer for Lille this season, keeping 21 clean sheets, but he was overlooked by his fellow professionals during Sunday's awards, with PSG's Salvatore Sirigu claiming the prize for best stopper in the league.

"Obviously, it would have been nice to win it, but I won't let that worry me. You win some and you lose some. It's not something that is going to affect me. I congratulate the winner Sirigu. We secured a Champions League spot, but we also need to finish the season on a high, I'm proud of what we've done," he added.

The award is decided by 60 journalists from all branches of the media and is co-sponsored by Radio France Internationale (RFI) and France24 TV news channel.

Enyeama was selected for the 2002 World Cup as a cover for Ike Shorunmu. He only played one match in that tournament, keeping a clean sheet against England, and took over the spot after Shorunmu's international retirement. Since then he has been the first-choice goalkeeper for the national team, playing in the 2004 African Cup of Nations, 2006 African Cup of Nations, and indeed all African Cup of Nations till 2013 except for the 2008 edition in Ghana where he lost his position to Austin Ejide. In the 2006 CAN, he stopped three penalties in the quarter-final against Tunisia, but could not prevent a loss to Côte d'Ivoire in the semi-final.

Enyeama turned out the hero for the Nigerians as he saved Thomas Nyirenda's spot kick after both teams had scored their previous three kicks. He put his own kick past his opposite number Mweene in a battle of the goalkeepers, after Mweene had scored his, seconds earlier, to set up a semi-final clash with Ghana, which Nigeria lost 1–0 only to end up settling for the third place by beating Algeria by a slim 1–0 victory margin

He justified claims as one of the best shot-stoppers in football at the moment, with a defiant display to restrict Argentina to a 1–0 win in their Group B 2010 FIFA World Cup match. Enyeama, who was playing his 56th international for the Super Eagles, made six fine saves, four of them from Lionel Messi, and was the major reason for Nigeria coming so close to almost pinching a draw against the two-time world champions.

Despite the loss, he was named Man of the Match and World Player of the Week by Goal.com. Argentine coach Maradona praised him as the reason Leo Messi was not able to score a goal.

He was called up to Nigeria's 23-man squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. As active captain (standing in for Joseph Yobo who stayed on the bench for most of the competition), Enyeama led Nigeria to her third continental victory. He was named the team of the tournament as first choice goalkeeper, alongside four other Nigerian players in various positions

Enyeama is in Nigeria's 30-man provisional World Cup squad and is expected to be the number one choice for the Super Eagles at the tournament in Brazil.

Profile
Name: Vincent Enyeama
Nationality: Nigeria
Place of Birth: Kaduna, Nigeria
Position: Goalkeeper
Age :31
Height: 6'2''
Weight: 79 kg
Foot: Right
Salary: 1.02 million Euros (2012)

Previous Winners
2009: Marouane Chamakh (Morocco/Bordeaux)
2010: Gervinho (Ivory Coast/Lille)
2011: Gervinho (Ivory Coast/Lille)
2012: Younes Belhanda (Morocco/Montpellier Herault SC)
2013: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/
Saint-Etienne)
2014: Vincent Enyeama
(Nigeria/Lille)