Chippa United coach Thabo September acknowledged his mistake in choosing to play goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, who had requested a rest after the recent deaths of both his parents. The Super Eagles goalie tragically lost both of his parents in the space of two months.
His father passed away during the international break in November, right before he played in Nigeria’s 1-1 draw against Benin. After the match, he was granted compassionate leave to attend the funeral. Consequently, he missed the 2-1 loss to Rwanda in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers.
Barely two months after laying his father to rest, he faced another devastating loss when his mother passed away on January 1.
The goalkeeper admitted that he is not emotionally stable and is still dealing with this difficult situation. Ahead of Saturday night’s Betway Premiership match against TS Galaxy, Nwabali asked to be rested, insisting he was not in the right frame of mind.
The 28-year-old shot-stopper’s blunder presented Galaxy with a goal late in the match at Mbombela. The former Lobi Stars goalie made a save in the 80th minute, and in an attempt to quickly release a teammate, he unfortunately threw the ball directly to Damir Sosvic.
The left-footed Bosnian midfielder made no error, effortlessly executing a cheeky chip with his right foot. This marked his first goal since joining The Rockets in late 2024.
WHAT THABO SEPTEMBER SAID ABOUT HIS DECISION TO PLAY STANLEY NWABALI
“A good game from us, we didn’t lose it anywhere,” September told FARPost. “I think we did everything we wanted to do. But it’s football.”
He admitted he should have listened when Nwabali requested to be rested. “Where we lost it, maybe it’s from the bench. From me, from the coaching side, because my goalkeeper did plead with me that he was not okay today and he wanted to rest. He’s going through a lot. Him being the number one goalkeeper, I pushed him and said he must play.
“Sometimes you must listen. For me as a coach just growing into that. So, I’ll take that. From the players, everyone gave 120% performance, so I’m happy about that; they gave it their best.”
He praised the Super Eagles goalkeeper for an all-round good performance. “He didn’t have much to do, maybe towards the end when we made mistakes and towards the end when we were chasing the game. But other than that, he did very well,” September concluded.
The Chilli Boys now turn their focus to the Nedbank Cup Last 16, where they take on Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday at the FNB Stadium.
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