Olympique Marseille of France midfielder Wilson Oruma could become the greatest beneficiary of Nigerian captain Austin Okocha's injury at the on-going African Cup of Nations (CAN) in Egypt, with the Super Eagles' coaching crew hoping to retain the winning team in the country's next match against Zimbabwe on Friday.

With Okocha on the bench, Oruma, Under-21 Japan '93 Golden Eaglets winning captain, but who had been on and off in the national team for the past eight years, got a golden opportunity Monday.

In that match he played a big role in Nigeria's 1-0 pipping of arch-rivals and World Cup-bound Ghana in their CAN opening match.

Oruma is favoured to maintain the same role in the Eagles' match against Zimbabwe even if Okocha is certified fit to play by the medical team, according to the Nigerian football officials.

One of Nigeria's assistant coaches told PANA that it was the general consensus among the technical crew to give Oruma the opportunity to continue with his current form.

"There is no going back on 'Oruma must stay' because everybody here tipped him as the man of the match against Ghana and it only showed that the young man is hungry to make a name for himself and at the same time help the nation achieve greatness," the coach said.

He added: "It only showed that he has been looking for this opportunity and he has made use of it in a way nobody had expected and if we can have this kind of attitude among the other players, the coaches will not need to rely on particular players for action because talents are abundant in this country."

But the coach explained that the performance of Oruma and his choice for the next match is not to diminish the stature or contribution of Okocha to the team, but it would allow the former Bolton captain to recover fully for the rest of crucial matches.

"It has always being the philosophy of Okocha to give young ones a chance and not to over-load the big players with too many games.
We all know that he is aging and needs a replacement. It will be better to allow him recover fully instead of rushing him back to play," the coach stressed.