Old Enough

It’s a weird old game, football, fraught with mysteries and seemingly unsolvable conundrums. Maybe that’s why we love it so much, because it taps into the wellsprings of our own personal frustrations at the seeming randomness of life. It is a microcosm of our daily existence, pregnant with the same manner of questions that rage within us and defy logic and reason.
How is it that the Netherlands of Cruyff and Neeskens, the cradle of total football and universality, have never been world champions? How is it that a player like Austin “Jay Jay” Okocha was never crowned African Footballer of the Year, in spite of his mesmeric ability? How is it that Nwankwo Kanu, decorated with almost every conceivable medal in world football, never scored a goal at a senior international football tournament playing for Nigeria? How is it that Pele, acclaimed by some as the greatest footballer who ever graced the game, is totally hopeless on the subject of anointing his own successor? (Why he even feels the need to do so is completely beyond me; surely there are scouts for that sort of thing, right?)
The subject of Pele got me thinking. His genius was announced on the world stage at a pretty tender age and he became a world champion at 17. He was a powerful dribbler and had a fierce strike (think Cristiano Ronaldo, but with much more snug shorts), dominating defenders from a deeper striking position. You know who else is 17 and the toast of world football presently? Nigeria’s own Kelechi Iheanacho, fresh from winning the U17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, as well as the tournament’s Golden Ball award.
Now, I am well aware that any comparison to Pele seems to become a kiss of death, so perhaps it was just as well that the legendary Brazilian held his peace this time. Really, age aside, there is scant basis for comparison. Iheanacho is a silky, left-footed playmaker who likes to cut inside from the left flank and thread through balls between opposing defenders. Allied to that, he is unnervingly calm in front of goal and intelligent with his movement and passing.
This blog is my treatise for the inclusion of Kelechi Iheanacho in the Super Eagles squad for the World Cup in Brazil. This first part will focus on what he can bring to the team, while the second will be on how he can be utilized in the team’s tactical setup. Having given a lot of thought to it, I am convinced he is the solution to a problem that first came to my notice in the first leg World Cup Qualifying Play-off against Ethiopia. That will be expounded upon in the second part of this post.
At the Confederations Cup in June, especially in the loss to South American champions Uruguay, it quickly became clear how limited the National team were in terms of game-changing options from the bench. This led to like-for-like switches, which added nothing new but instead served to break up the fluidity of the team’s play. The addition of the precocious Iheanacho can surely only have a positive impact on the team, and even if he is not a nailed-on starter, he will increase the options available to Stephen Keshi both in terms of number and variety.
Modern football is leaning, more than ever before, toward strength and athleticism as some sort of equalizer, a means of accentuating the collective. This really works in Iheanacho’s favor, as his youth and energy will enable the team press from the front and force errors from the opposition. As for his seemingly slight frame, while he is by no means frail, he is not exactly sculpted in the image of Assistant Coach Daniel Amokachi. However, by virtue of his position on the left of the attack, he would be up against a fullback, who is on average smaller and less powerful than a center back, thereby moving him away from a high impact zone.
As mentioned previously, he is immensely clever with his positioning, occasionally dropping deep into midfield to add numbers and create numerical superiority, as well as moving inside from the flank into the space to the side of the opposition’s holding midfielder, from where he plays lovely dinks over the defence. One can only imagine what Emmanuel Emenike and Ikechukwu Uche could do with such service.
Like the axiom goes: if you’re good enough, you are old enough. Indeed, the only problem young Iheanacho might have, in my mind, is that of integration. As with any newcomer into a setup, there is bound to be a bedding-in period. The National team is an exclusive honor to those considered worthy to fly the country’s flag, and the inclusion of one will invariably knock another off. Will the player dislodged and his allies within the team take kindly to the intrusion? Will his youth be disdained? In this regard, while the coaching crew would have a responsibility to make him feel important to the cause, the man Kelechi Iheanacho has to assert himself and pull his own weight within the squad. If he can do this, he is Brazil-bound. Hope he likes the tropical sun.
Up the Super Eagles!