The Golden eaglets we’re playing a friendly match against my team, FHA at the St Gregories ground that morning, and my own best friend was the one to stop me from scoring a goal for the Golden eaglets. This was three weeks before the team departed for China.
Sabara called me and cautioned me to stay calm and play very simple football. I acknowledged and the game started.
Ten minutes into the game and I was already on the floor, in front of the opponents goal line, with a knee injury that was inflicted by my best friend, three weeks before our first game in against Italy in Dalian China.
After this injury, the coaches had a long discussion that evening with the doctor that was assigned to the team. From all indications, it was very positive, so I was not even allowed to touch the ball during training the next day. In fact I could not walk properly.
Some few days later, Sabara then had a meeting with his coaches and forcefully decided he was going to take me to the World Cup. In fact, I could not believe it myself.
When we got to china, the progress of the injury was clear for everybody to see, and with the help of the Chinese medical support, I started jogging. From the quarter final I started playing against all odds.
In the eleventh minute of the final against Germany, the moment arrived when I paid back that trust given to me by the coach that shaped up my confidence in world football.
When I hugged him after the game in jubilations, his words I will carry with me all through my career. Sebastian Imasuen Brodericks, may your soul rest in perfect peace ✌️
The rumours have been circulating since August and now it has finally happened. Super Falcons and Florida State University's Jennifer Onyi Echegini (JOE) has moved to Juventus.
Juventus is delighted to announce the signing of Jennifer "Joe" Echegini, the latest addition to Joe Montemurro's Juventus Women team. The 22-year-old midfielder, born in the Netherlands and raised in England, plays for the Nigeria national team and arrives at Juventus from Florida, in the United States of America. She has signed a contract until 30 June 2026, and will wear the number 26 shirt.
Echegini was a key player for the Florida State Seminoles, with whom she played over the last few seasons, gaining everyone's attention thanks to her talent while also earning a call-up to the senior Nigeria national team, making the squad for last year's World Cup.
There are several statistics and awards to exemplify what Echegini has achieved in the United States. Let's start with the most recent: she was among the finalists of the MAC Hermann, the most prestigious award in US university football. In December, however, she obtained another highly valuable recognition, winning the Honda Sport Award for women's football. She was then MVP of the ACC Tournament, “ACC Offensive Player of the Year” and named to the “United Soccer Coaches First Team All-American”. And this list could no doubt continue to grow in Italy.
She see out 2023 with 16 goals, the eighth best result ever in the history of her university, and was the first among the ranks of the Florida State Seminoles to reach double figures in goals for multiple seasons in a row since Deyna Castellanos, now the number 10 at Manchester City. She is set to now continue her growth path in black and white, with the desire to pursue and achieve the great objectives that Juventus Women have set their sights on.
Joe will take part in official club activity as soon as her move is completed.
Welcome to Juventus, Joe! We look forward to seeing you on the pitch soon!
Konquest: Indeed. It's the end of an iconic sports era with the translation of Coach Sebastian Brodericks.
First off, Happy New Year (2024) @Naptu2. I wish YOU the best, and more power to your elbows as you give us more insights and historic updates via your NL threads.
Whoa! 1985... Unforgettable!
Sebastine Brodericks-Imasuen, led the iconic Golden Eaglets to win the inaugural U-17 World Cup in 1985. The captain of the team Nduka Ugbade from Ugbodu (in Aniocha North) in the defunct Bendel State (now Delta State) and his fellow teammates were simply stellar. It felt like the senior world cup was won at that time in 1985 as millions of us sat glued to the TV screens watching that final soccer match being beamed live from China.
The last I heard was that Nduka Ugbade was working with the elite Corona Schools in Agbara, as a top coach. It's good to know that many from that 1985 set are still alive and spread all over the world.
Happy New Year.
Ugbade is now the coach of the Golden Eaglets. He was one of the assistants when Emmanuel Amunike won the world cup. I made a thread when Wilfred Ndidi went to visit him last year.
Ugbade almost set a record as the first person to play in cadet, youth and senior World Cups, but unfortunately Westerhof didn't include him in the team to the USA. I remember that many journalists begged Westterhof to include him, but he narrowly missed out.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sports › Re: Jonathan Akpoborie Writes Tribute To Sebastian Brodericks-Imasuen by naptu2(op): 3:39am On Jan 06, 2024
