Nigeria’s U-17 free-kick specialist, Emmanuel Michael, has credited his coach, Nduka Ugbade, for his ability to score from dead-ball situations.
In a chat with Daily Trust, the 16-year-old wonder kid who converted three free-kicks at the just concluded WAFU B championships in Ghana said their success was due to team work.
His goals were instrumental in taking the Golden Eaglets to the championship finals where the five-time world champions edged the Young Stallions of Burkina Faso 2-1 at the Cape Coast Stadium.
It will also be recalled that Michael had won the Man-of-the-Match prize in all three previous matches against Ghana, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire.
“We all worked for it. Well, the man behind the free-kicks is coach Ugbade. He taught me how to play free-kicks. I have been playing free-kicks but the first time I met him, he made me improve,” he said.
This victory also meant that Nigeria has swept the stakes in youth football in the seven-nation WAFU B within one month, with the U20 Boys (Flying Eagles) having won the WAFU B U20 Championship in Niger Republic just last month.
Nigeria alongside Burkina Faso and Egypt have qualified far for the Africa U17 Championship which Algeria will host next year.