Cameroon captain Stephane Mbia has hailed Nigeria's Vincent Enyeama as one of the best goalkeepers in African history.
Enyeama, who abruptly quit international football after a highly successful 13 years this week following a row with coach Sunday Oliseh at the Super Eagles’ camp in Brussels, is the highest capped player for the West African giants.
Cameroon and Nigeria will face off in a friendly match in Belgium this weekend and in his pre-match notes, Mbia hailed the retired custodian. "I think Enyeama has his personal reasons for retiring but for me he is the best goalkeeper in African football history," Mbia told Daily Nation Sport in an interview.
The Indomitable Lions will be using the game their arch-rivals for preparations ahead of the forthcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Cameroon will play either Somalia or Niger in the first of potentially several qualification matches in November and Mbia, who won the Europa League with Sevilla two seasons agao, is confident the team has all it takes to secure qualification to the 2018 showdown in Russia.
"We are working to build a new dynamic and powerful national team and our aim is to win game after game and play in Russia," he said.
Mbia, who captained Cameroon at the African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, was instrumental in his team's 3-1 triumph against Belgium top flight club Oostende on Thursday.