One of the big subplots for Nigeria as they begin their Africa Cup of Nations campaign, for an unexpected fourth African triumph, will be how the goalkeeping situation plays out.
Stanley Nwabali and Francis Uzoho are the two main characters in this drama, with Amas Obasogie the seeming bystander waiting in the wings to pick up whatever scraps drop from that table.
Nwabali, the current first choice, is expected to start the tournament, and the recent friendly game against Egypt, where he played all of the first half before giving way to Obasogie in the second half, lends credence to that.
However, whether he gets to finish the tournament in goal will be up to him, his temperament and his ability to not make any costly errors, or give in to any rush of blood to the head as he has been wont to do recently.
If he does, Uzoho is waiting in the wings to step in, but even he is not entirely beloved of Nigerians, who remember why he was dropped for Maduka Okoye in 2019.
Nwabali came under an unwanted spotlight for some dodgy decisions during World Cup qualifying. In recent games, the goalkeeper has had some crummy moments that have cast doubt on his temperament and subsequently, the confidence to keep him the top choice.
Against Rwanda in Uyo, he was extremely fortunate not to be sent off after an unnecessarily ill-advised shove of an opposition player in the box. Against Lesotho, he gave away a goal with an uncharacteristic error with Nigeria 2-0 up, and was a hair's breadth away from doing the same again in the dying seconds but the ball, luckily, just dribbled wide.
This litany of errors were enough to lead to calls from Nigerian fans for the Chippa United goalkeeper to be dropped and led to the recall of Okoye for the playoffs.
However, Okoye was left out of the squad, owing to what officials told ESPN came largely from the Udinese side. This means Uzoho, who has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts with his club in Cyprus, is generally seen as the immediate back-up by default.
Obasogie was given a run out in that Egypt friendly, but the manner of the Pharaohs winner dampened any enthusiasm Nigerians may have had in the possibility of the Singida Black Stars goalie as a reliable backup.
To be clear, from a purely goalkeeping point of view, Nwabali is the best of the current posse of goalkeepers Nigeria have. That includes the absent Okoye, and he has been since he broke into the first team in a pre-Africa Cup of Nations friendly that the Super Eagles lost 0-2 to Guinea in January of 2024.
His performance during the AFCON that followed resulted in four clean sheets, five wins, one draw and one loss from seven games was the foundation for a solid defensive base that helped propel the Super Eagles to a Final they were not expected to reach.
But some of the antics he has got up to during the qualifiers have left Nigerians questioning whether he is the right man for the job and whether he could end up costing the Super Eagles at a most inauspicious moment.
And therein lies the issue, although both Nwabali, conceding 1.0 goal per game after 28 games and Uzoho, 1.06 goals per game after 36, have similar average numbers.
It is rare that the goalkeeping position is a subject of conversation in a Nigeria squad heading into a major tournament. Largely because, the Super Eagles have always had a settled goalkeeping situation.
Which is not to say there is no precedent for goalkeeping being front and center in Nigeria's squad. As far back as the 1980s, there was some controversy centered around who should start between the legendary Emmanuel Okala and his rival Best Ogedegbe.
More recently, in 2008, Berti Vogts inexplicably chose to go with Austin Ejide over Vincent Enyeama for reasons that remain opaque. That decision ended in Nigeria's quarterfinal exit at the hands of Ghana.
Colin Udoh plays down Nigeria's chances of success in Morocco after failing to qualify for the World Cup.
What makes the current situation additionally concerning is injury to Nwabali from his club. Chippa United coach Vusimuzi Vilakazi told SuperSport when the Nigeria squad was announced that he was uncertain that Nwabali would make the tournament, and suggesting the goalkeeper would require surgery.
"I doubt it, looking at the state of his injury," the Chippa United coach said of Nwabali going to AFCON.
"I don't think he will make it, but when I was talking to him, he was confident that he will recover very soon, but obviously you will understand because he's a player he wants to be there at the Cup of Nations finals.
"But the reality is saying for now he is still injured. I also hope for the best that he might find himself there.
"It's an ankle injury, but then also the hand needs an operation because he's been playing with that (injured) hand for a while now, and he aggravated the injury while he was in Morocco."
Nwabali did not look in any discomfort against Egypt, but the precautionary half time substitution left the situation open to interpretation. And it is possible that he could be forced by injury at any time during the tournament to cede his position to Uzoho, who would have to play out of his skin to regain the confidence and trust of Nigerians.
Both players enjoy the trust of coach Eric Chelle, who never passes up an opportunity to express confidence in his players in spite of any perceived errors.
"Sometimes I make mistakes too," he acknowledged during one of his press conferences. "But you can ask the captain and the players, we are a family. If we win, we win together. If we lose, we take it together.
"I trust in my group and my players. So we go to the war with these guys. We only need to stay focus on our games."
Chelle will hope that Nwabali keeps his head, and plays like everyone knows he can because that could be the difference between the save that drags Nigeria - again - to the final, or the howler that sends the Super Eagles home.
That howler could take the shape of a red card, or accumulated yellows, which could see Uzoho return between the posts. While he is not as temperamental as Nwabali, he does not quite have the same goalkeeping chops and Chelle will hope his time away has smoothened out some of the rough edges of the past.
Either way, one or both goalkeepers will need to deliver at a high level for the Super Eagles to be successful in Morocco.