By PIUS IDOKO
The last time I saw a deadly & a prolific goalscorer in the camp of any of our national teams preparing for a major tournament was in 2014/2015 when Emmanuel Amuneke was in charge as the head coach of Nigeria’s U-17 men’s national team, the Golden Eaglets. Thesame year, Victor Osimhen was discovered with his goalscoring prowess.
That’s not to unburden the qualities of other strikers whom coaches have worked with to bring glory to this country with the many several other tournaments that have preceded that era.
Currently Nigeria’s U-20 men’s national team, the Flying Eagles have embarked on a Christmas break, following weeks of preparation for the U-20 AFCON, otherwise known as the African Youth Championship (AYC) which starts in February next year in Egypt.
In order to pick the very best that’ll secure Nigeria’s ticket to the FIFA U-20 men’s World cup in Indonesia, coach Isah Ladan Bosso invited several strikers and gave them the chance to prove their mettle, but out of the poll of strikers in camp, the one who is on the lips of everyone and has caught the attention of many is Olusegun Otusanya, he is the cynosure of all eyes.
Olusegun Otusanya, a striker from little known Stars Builders Academy based in Ogun state started off in ways nobody could have ever imagined with the flying eagles, and the impressions he’s made during training sessions and on real match situations has not gone unnoticed.
He took the camp by storm with his red hot goalscoring form. so far, he remains the only forward who is pretty much likened to be Ivory coast’s legendary striker Didier Drogba, with his swift turn on the ball ability, and has equally been described as Manchester City’s Erling Haaland by his admirers due to his clinical finishing in front of goal.
The flying eagles played a total of eight friendly games during the first phase of their Afcon camping before embarking on a Christmas break, Olusegun featured in four of those games, hitting the back of the net five times coming off the shadows of the bench on those occasion to prove his worth and credence as a reliable striker.
The qualities of Olusegun are innumerable, so much so that one will almost be tempted to say he’ll not struggle to fit into the plans of any European club judging by his work rate, his attacking instinct combined with his ball intelligence, confidence and his rapid adaptability to coaches philosophy.
Nigeria has produced great forwards in time past, ranging from the mathematical Odegbemi, the late Rashidi Yekini, Yakubu Aigbeni, Julius Aghahowa, Obafemi Martins, Benedict Akwegbu, Odion Ighalo including Victor Osimhen and several others in that similar status, and I can vouch that if Olusegun will continue with his rich vein of form, he definitely stands a chance of usurping what these legends have achieved and his name will be etched in Nigeria’s history books of records
Looking at what the future holds, they’re no doubts that Olusegun will become a big player, adjudging his output, he’s an absolute match winner, the type that our national team handlers needs to keep an eye on as national asset.
