The Nigerian National team the Golden Eaglets made the nation proud as they finished as winners of the recently concluded FIFA U20 World Cup after defeating their Malian counterparts by two goals to nil.
The Emmanuel Amunike tutored side is packed with outstanding individual talents but also proved to be a cohesive unit.
Also two players walked away from the competition held in Chile with two individual prizes; team captain Kelechi Nwakali and the competition's top scorer Victor Osimhen won the Golden ball/bronze boot and Silver ball/Golden boot respectively.
Osimhen and Nwakali with their prizes
One potential down side to this victory is the poor management of the players by the Nigerian football authorities and more importantly their respective agents. Also it is important that these players especially Osimhen and Nwakali don't see themselves as superstars already and consequently adopt a lackadaisical attitude. However the signs are good so far.
This what FIFA had to say of the Golden ball/bronze boot and Silver ball/Golden boot winners;
adidas Golden ball winner and Bronze boot winner Kelechi Nwakali
The captain of the Golden Eaglets was included in Nigeria’s provisional squad ahead of the 2013 edition, but was not named in the final party that went on to win the title. Here, however, the playmaker was the first to lift the trophy aloft. Coach Emmanuel Amuneke's right-hand man out on the pitch, he shouldered responsibility and kept a cool head in difficult moments. He scored three goals, including two penalties, and provided a further three assists, a haul that also brought him the adidas Bronze Boot.
Silver ball and Golden boot winner Victor Osimhen
Even before the tournament kicked off in Chile Osimhen was touted as a favourite to win the adidas Golden Ball, having scored 39 goals in 71 outings for his country at that point, and finished as top scorer at the U-17 African Championship in March. The striker, who names Côte d’Ivoire forward Didier Drogba as his role model, more than lived up to expectations in Chile after finding the net in all seven games at the competition. Osimhen put his side 1-0 up on four occasions and his effort in the final – his tenth goal overall – set a new tournament record, beating the previous best-mark set by Côte d’Ivoire’s Souleymane Coulibaly in 2011 and France’s Florent Sinama Pongolle in 2001. Osimhen duly finished as top scorer in South America, and would doubtless not begrudge his team captain, of all players, pipping him to what would have been a second golden award. (Courtesy FIFA.com)
