Khune & Okoye: The battles Akpeyi faces at Kaizer Chiefs & Nigeria

Daniel Akpeyi, it seems, must regularly defend himself in light of critics and their inclination to find a new stick to beat him with every now and again.

At 34, the Kaizer Chiefs shot-stopper still divides opinion for club and country. The ex-Chippa United man has never truly won the trust of Nigeria fans, owing to his chequered time with the Super Eagles.

There was a sense he'd run out of chances following a schoolboy error in a friendly against Argentina in 2017, but he recovered to largely thrive at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Akpeyi's return to the Nigeria reckoning can be ascribed to the utter uncertainty between the sticks for Gernot Rohr's men, following the retirement of Vincent Enyeama and Carl Ikeme.

Francis Uzoho and Ikechukwu Ezenwa have had their chances, with the former initially thriving before a dip in performances pre-injury exacerbated the evident concern.

Sparta Rotterdam's Maduka Okoye holds the reins at the moment, with the German tactician naming the young goalkeeper his first-choice in an interview with ESPN in February.

"No. 1 is Maduka. These decisions, I take them with [goalkeeper coach Alloy Agu] because he is a specialist for goalkeeper training," Rohr said at the time. "We agreed that it's actually Maduka. We have the experienced [Daniel Akpeyi] doing good matches with this club in South Africa.

"We have the young [Francis Uzoho] coming back after injury, but he has to play also now not only on the bench."

Ostensibly, Rohr's pecking order has Okoye as the undisputed choice, with Akpeyi and Uzoho behind the 21-year-old shot-stopper. In a sense, this represents progress for the Chiefs man, owing to how he appeared to have fallen out of favour after that Argentina gaffe and looked to be behind his replacement and Ezenwa.

Given the African giants' goalkeeping misfortune since Enyeama, don't be surprised if another upheaval occurs in the not-so-distant future.

For the Amakhosi, though, remains a particularly interesting story.

Supporters love one-club man Itumeleng Khune, whose contract with the club is nearing expiration. There were reports before the Caf Champions League final that the club were willing to offer a new one-year contract, but nothing has materialised since.

Events in the 3-0 defeat by Al Ahly haven't helped, with many observers startlingly apportioning blame to the Nigeria man, despite being blameless. Unsurprisingly, Akpeyi bit back.

"Every champion has once lost a fight (sadly so), but they've never lost their dream no matter the opinion about them, nature does conform to them at the right time," Akpeyi wrote on Instagram.

"To everyone who has been standing with them through thick and thin, I salute your courage, when the limits are broken, all the joy that is assumed to be lost you will receive them in one package I'm grateful to have come this far."

Indeed, it was amazing that the Nnewi-born goalie for how the South African side's first Caf CL final panned out. He didn't receive his marching orders to leave his team in the lurch, neither was he at fault for any of the goals.

In the opening half, he even smothered crosses into his zone to relieve pressure on his side. Indeed, the finger-pointing is utterly bemusing.

Whether the West African taking the place of Khune is responsible for the opprobrium is anyone's guess, but it'll be unfair if that has prompted the latest bout of fault-finding.

It was refreshing to see Akpeyi receive some support from former Sunshine Stars goalkeeper, Olumide Akinroyeje, who labelled criticism of the experienced goalie "unwarranted".

"I feel it is unwarranted blaming Akpeyi for Kaizer Chiefs' loss to Al Ahly. He did his best and we must accept the fact that the Egyptians were the better side," Akinroyeje told Goal. "The red card no doubt slowed down the South Africans and destabilized their game plan against the well-organised Egyptians, but they did not help matters for themselves as they preferred to sit back instead of moving forward."

"Seeing how Chiefs were defending in the second half, I knew they were going to make errors. That led to pressure on the defenders and the goalkeeper was meant to pay for that.

"In football, defending starts in front and not only in the last line. So, I won't agree with those saying Akpeyi cost his team victory," he concluded. "The final score was not an accurate reflection of his performance."

The aforementioned analysis of proceedings seems balanced and a fairer reflection of what ensued in Morocco.

There has to be a tinge of irritation on the Nigerian's part, owing to the big part he played in Chiefs reaching their first Champions League final.

His man of the match performance in the semi-final second leg meeting with Wydad kept the score on the day goalless, with his seven saves allowing the SA side progress 1-0 on aggregate.

The subsequent censure had to have hurt. Nevertheless, Akpeyi has had to deal with aspersions for the majority of this career and he'll back himself to prove naysayers wrong...again.

A path to reclaiming the No. 1 spot under Rohr may be unclear, but events at Chiefs in the following months will be interesting especially if Khune eventually agrees to stay on for another year.

The three-way battle involving Akpeyi, Khune and Bruce Bvuma for the goalkeeping position will certainly be all shades of fun for every neutral!