tommy589:


Most of them chose education ahead of a career in football

firearcher:


Lol. Do you know Jonathan Akpoborire?

naptu2:
FIFA UNDER 17 WORLD CUP


I wrote a post a long time ago and I've just found a Twitter thread that provides another example of what I wrote in that post, but unfortunately I can no longer find my post.

Many Nigerians have weird ideas about the FIFA cadet championships and that post demonstrated how weird those ideas were.

1) Nigerians would often talk about someone that was a star at cadet level (U16 or U17), but who didn't go on to achieve success at senior level and then claim that this is proof that the person was over age. That makes no sense whatsoever.


Lots of people achieve success at cadet level, but fail to achieve the same success at senior level. Do you remember Freddy Adu, who was hailed as the next Pele when he was a teenager (Alex Ferguson spoke glowingly about him and he signed his first professional contract when he was just 14), but didn't achieve anything as a senior professional? Do you remember Florient Sinama Pongolle and Anthony Letallec, who were the stars of the French team that won the 2001 Under 17 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago, but did not achieve anything great as seniors?


In fact, if we follow that line of thinking, then we might say that only Jonathan Akpoborire and Marcel Witeczek were under 16 in the 1985 final, because they were the only people (on both the German and Nigerian sides) that continued to achieve success more than ten years after the match. We all know that isn't true.


There are a lot of reasons why cadet stars do not achieve success at senior level and they've got nothing to do with age. Some players, who are young and overwhelmed with success, but do not know enough about the football business, sign slave contracts or bad contracts which effectively kill their football careers. Do you remember what almost happened to Christopher Ohenhen at Real Madrid before he escaped? Do you remember what almost happened to Ahmed Garba (Yaro-Yaro) before the NFA took action to block the deal?

There are also some players who become overwhelmed by early success. They think that they have arrived and stop doing what they need to so to continue to succeed.

Some players simply develop too early and burn out early.


2) And that brings me to the other issue. The people that make this argument have a habit of mentioning Nigerian cadet players that were stars at junior level, but didn't achieve success at senior level, without mentioning those that achieved long term success at senior level.

For examples, Jonathan Akpoborire played in the Golden Eaglets team that won the 1985 Under 16 World Cup in China and he was the second highest goal scorer in the 1997/1998 UEFA Cup Winners Cup competition (more than 10 years after the cadet World Cup).

Victor Ikpeba played for Nigeria at the 1989 Under 17 World Cup in Scotland and he was second highest goal scorer in the 1996/1997 UEFA Cup and he also scored lots of important goals in 1997/1998 Champions League (almost ten years after the cadet World Cup).

We all know about the successes of Jay-Jay Okocha (1993 Under 20) and Nwankwo Kanu (1993 Under 17), so I don't need to go into that.


This Twitter thread finds out what happened to members of the England team that won the 2017 Under 17 World Cup.

https://twitter.com/RyanDilks1/status/1600834688507002885

hisexcellency34:
The labours of our heroes past. The man was sick for long and begging for help.

DONSMITH123:

"He began his football career in 1956 when as a student, he featured for the Onitsha team in the Challenge Cup."

https://punchng.com/breaking-1985-u-17-word-cup-winning-coach-sebastian-broderick-is-dead/

GanagiBitrus:
RIP.

Unfortunately, none of his gold-winning Eaglets made any remarkable impact at the senior level.

GanagiBitrus:
RIP.

Unfortunately, none of his gold-winning Eaglets made any remarkable impact at the senior level.

femi4:
Ugbade
Jonathan akpoborie

GanagiBitrus:
RIP.

Unfortunately, none of his gold-winning Eaglets made any remarkable impact at the senior level.

naptu2:
May his soul rest in peace.

I watched them train on my field before they went to the World Championship in 1985. It was an Under 16 championship back then.

firearcher:


Lol. Do you know Jonathan Akpoborire?

GanagiBitrus:


Maybe you should check up the meaning of REMARKABLE.

ppogba:
U

REMARKABLE: Worthy of being remarked or noticed; noticeable, conspicuous.

If Playing top flight football in the German league for YEARS, playing for years in the national team of Nigeria is not remarkable then I do not owe anybody who takes joy in denigrating the achievements of others with a stupid, I'll informed comment on a faceless forum an explanation.

Learn not to bamboozle others with your limited knowledge.

naptu2:
And being the second highest goalscorer in a UEFA competition, getting to the final of that competition and being the highest goalscorer in your club is not remarkable, then remarkable has gotten a new meaning.

gaskiyamagana:

Indomine generation comment.

ppogba:
U

REMARKABLE: Worthy of being remarked or noticed; noticeable, conspicuous.

If Playing top flight football in the German league for YEARS, playing for years in the national team of Nigeria is not remarkable then I do not owe anybody who takes joy in denigrating the achievements of others with a stupid, I'll informed comment on a faceless forum an explanation.

Learn not to bamboozle others with your limited knowledge.

GanagiBitrus:

No need for long epistle.
If I ask you to mention notable (remarkable) S/Eagles players, will you mention Akpoborire.

GanagiBitrus:
RIP.

Unfortunately, none of his gold-winning Eaglets made any remarkable impact at the senior level.

ppogba:


What a good way to crawl into your " hole of shame".

Dpharisee:

See as you dey disgrace yourself with ignorance in public, no be every matter children dey put mouth,

naptu2:
They'll start shifting the goalpost.

naptu2:


At club level, Johnny (Jonathan Akpoborire) did wonderful things with Stuttgart in the late 1990s. He was the second highest goalscorer in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and he got to the Cup Winners Cup final where they lost to Chelsea. He formed a fantastic partnership with Fredy Bobic and he was Stuttgart's highest goalscorer in one of those seasons. They also won the German Cup (obviously).

At National team level, Nduka Ugbade played in that Flying Eagles team that got to the final of the U20 World Cup in 1989. He scored a goal in the Miracle of Damman.

He also scored for the Super Eagles in the Nations Cup qualifier against Ethiopia in 1993 or 1994. He was a member of the team that won the 1994 African Nations Cup.

DONSMITH123:


https://punchng.com/breaking-1985-u-17-word-cup-winning-coach-sebastian-broderick-is-dead/

naptu2:
May his soul rest in peace.

I watched them train on my field before they went to the World Championship in 1985. It was an Under 16 championship back then.