Sports
Behold, LaLiga’s Nigerian Rising Star, Samuel Chukwueze
Few young international players have made such an immediate impact in LaLiga Santander in recent years as Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze, with the 20-year-old Nigeria international already looking key to the Yellow Submarine’s chances of success this coming season.
Tidesports source reports that Ikwuano-born Chukwueze came a long way very fast following his LaLiga debut against Levante on 4th November 2018, having scored his first senior goal for club from Spain’s eastern coast in a Copa del Rey tie against Almeria a few days previously.
A first LaLiga goal arrived on November 11th, when he drove into the area and dribbled past two defenders before firing low through the legs of Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski.
A second league strike came the following weekend, when Chukwueze received a back-heel from teammate Santi Cazorla and showed composure and technique to fire the ball low into the bottom corner for the winning goal against Real Betis at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
The huge moments kept coming, with the teenager completing the 90 minutes in a narrow defeat at Barcelona’s Camp Nou and hitting his first Europa League goal in a 2-0 victory against Spartak Moscow to confirm Villarreal’s progress as group winners to that competition’s last 32.
All that seemed a long way away when Chukwueze was born back on 22nd May 1999 in Abia State, Nigeria. He began playing football aged just five and although his parents originally wanted him to concentrate on his studies, his natural talent and dedication soon shone through.
While honing his skills at the famed Diamond Football Academy, Chukwueze came to international attention with his thrilling performances as Nigeria won the 2015 Under-17 World Cup trophy. Three goals in the competition, including a strike after just 25 seconds in a 5-1 win against hosts Chile, secured him the competition’s Bronze Boot prize.
After joining Villarreal’s youth system in 2017, he quickly settled and was first promoted to the C team before rising into the B reserve side playing in Spain’s third tier. Having impressed his coaches in training with the senior side, a first-team chance soon arrived and was taken with both hands.
A fast, direct winger who likes to cut inside and shoot, Chukwueze has been compared to former Real Madrid star, Arjen Robben. Current Nigeria international Ikechukwu Uche, who played for Villarreal between 2011 and 2015, is a close follower of his compatriot’s career.
His immediate impact on LaLiga has raised hopes that Chukwueze could emulate another Nigerian, Christopher Ohen. The former Real Madrid youth teamer scored 48 goals in 117 topflight games for SD Compostela in the 1990s, making him the third-highest African scorer in LaLiga history.
Already, a senior international with his country, following a sensational tournament performance with Nigeria during the 2019 AFCON tournament, Chukwueze will now shift his focus to maintaining his fast start with Villarreal. In what was a difficult 2018/19 season for the Yellow Submarine, their emerging Nigerian star is a rising star to keep their spirits high in the new LaLiga Santander season!
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor
