Daniel Owefin Amokachi, a Tremendous Eagles icon, was famend for his energy, velocity, and a little bit of abilities throughout his taking part in days, and this has been absent in Nigeria’s soccer nationwide staff of all age classes.
Nonetheless, Charles Adah Agada, a 16-year-old Nigerian prodigy who was instrumental within the Golden Eaglets’ triumph in opposition to South Africa of their final Group B sport on the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, is reminding Nigeria of the previous Everton hero.
Amokachi was a striker who made a reputation for himself taking part in within the Premier League for Everton, the place he was a key member of the 1995 FA Cup-winning squad. Amokachi additionally earned 44 caps for the Tremendous Eagles of Nigeria, incomes 13 targets in these appearances.
Amokachi’s energy allowed him to intimidate gamers throughout his taking part in days, which helped his nation win the AFCON in 1994 and a gold medal on the Olympics in 1996. Together with his tempo and skill, he additionally made an impression for Nigeria within the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups.
Daniel Amokachi recounts his footballing days.
Are we lacking his power, and velocity in Nigeria’s nationwide staff as we speak?
Maybe, we might have discovered one.
🎥: @athlst_ #Supereagles #football #footballvideo #footballnews #danielamokachi pic.twitter.com/6XpinYLbFi
— Soccernet.ng (@soccernet_ng) May 9, 2023
Agada, the Golden Eaglets’ quantity 11, solely received a minute to play in Nigeria’s first sport in opposition to Zambia and three minutes in Nigeria’s 2-nil defeat to Morocco, however when he started his first sport of the match against South Africa, he wreaked havoc on Duncan Crowie’s boys’ defence.
After Vicky Mkhawana scored the primary aim within the five-goal thriller, Agada equalised within the thirty fourth minute. He additionally offered an excellent ball to Gentle Eke, who hammered dwelling an equaliser previous Gennaro Johnson.
This beautiful efficiency, nonetheless, has introduced Nigerians down memory lane of what Amokachi did to defences throughout his time within the nationwide staff, one thing Nigeria has missed for a few years.
Agada’s origin, nonetheless, appears to be corresponding to Victor Osimhen’s early tough instances in that his mom is an Otukpo Benue state farmer, and his father is a hunter.
“His father and mom are each hunters and farmers. They each farm and hunt within the village,” says Raymond Hassan, Chief Scout of Mavlon FC, in an interview with Ayomide Oguntimehin, Chief Editor of Soccernet.ng
“Agaga is a little bit boy we picked from Otukpo, Benue State, and we took him to Lagos, the place we put him via college [Palmvill College Lagos] and tried to develop his soccer abilities,” Hassan mentioned.
In the meantime, Hassan revealed to soccernet.ng that he couldn’t communicate wonderful English when he first met him, however that after enrolling him in a British college in Lagos, he’s doing very effectively.
“He’s doing effectively in class, and when he first arrived, he couldn’t communicate English very effectively. However he’s presently doing fairly effectively. He goes to highschool in Lagos and is in JSS 3,” he mentioned.
Many gamers fade into obscurity following their first look in a serious occasion, however Hassan mentioned that the soon-to-be 17-year-old sensation is motivated to achieve excessive heights in soccer.
“He [Agada] is somebody who could be very decided to play soccer on the highest stage. He’s very hardworking and really disciplined
“Agada is a really robust participant and Mavflon FC is coaching him to fulfill the usual of European soccer. he’s naturally a robust participant,” he added.
Soccer gamers with out a dream are prefer to planes with out pilots. When questioned concerning the lad’s motivation, Hassan mentioned, “His dream is to turn out to be an expert footballer and break data on the nationwide and international stage.”
“He needs to turn out to be African participant of the yr sometime, and he’s working in the direction of that ranging from what he did one Saturday [against South Africa]”
Nduka Ugbade’s staff will meet Burkina Faso within the quarterfinals of the 14th version of the biennial worldwide youth soccer occasion. Hassan is definite that the brand new Amokachi will make the nation proud on Thursday.
“He’ll do us proud. I’m optimistic about him making Nigeria proud. He’s prepared,” he mentioned.
Charles Agada has an attention-grabbing background, nearly much like Victor Osimhen simply that this boy is from Otukpo, Benue state.
In the meantime, I can confidently say that having reminded us of Daniel Amokachi, his goal is making Nigeria proud. pic.twitter.com/O0R3kKMUla
— Ayomide Oguntimehin (@ayo_oguntimehin) May 9, 2023
The Golden Eaglets are on monitor to seize their third AFCON trophy and qualify for the U-17 World Cup later this yr, and a victory in opposition to Burkina Faso will make it a actuality.