Augustine Azuka jay-jay okocha.
Date of birth - 14 August 1973 (age 47)
Place of birth - Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria
Height - 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) - Attacking midfielder
[left right attacking winger midfielder. centre forward midfielder] - Nigeria.
Augustine Azuka "Jay-Jay" Okocha (/əˈkɒtʃə/ə-KOTCH-ə; born 14 August 1973) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
Augustine Azuka "Jay-Jay" Okocha was born in Enugu, Enugu State. His parents lived in Iwo local Government, Osun State, Nigeria. The name Jay-Jay was passed down from his elder brother James, who started playing football first; his immediate elder brother, Emmanuel was also called Emma Jay-jay, but the name stuck with Okocha instead. He began playing football on the streets just like many other football stars, usually with a makeshift ball.
In an interview with BBC Sport he said, "As far as I can remember, we used to play with anything, with any round thing we could find, and whenever we managed to get hold of a ball, that was a bonus! I mean it was amazing!" In 1990, he joined Enugu Rangers. In his time at the club he produced many spectacular displays including one where he rounded off and scored a goal, against experienced Nigerian goalkeeper Willy Okpara in a match against BCC Lions. Later that year, he went on holiday to West Germany, the country that had just won the 1990 FIFA World Cup, so he could watch German league football. His friend Binebi Numa was playing in the Third Division for Borussia Neunkirchen, and one morning Okocha accompanied Numa to training, where he asked to join in. The Neunkirchen coach was impressed with Okocha's skills and invited him back the next day before offering him a contract. A year later, he joined 1. FC Saarbrücken, but stayed only a few months with the 2. Bundesliga side before a move to the 1. Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt.
One of his memorable moments in the Nigerian league was his skilful display against BCC Lions, where he rounded off experienced Super Eagles goalkeeper Willy Okpara before finding the back of the net.
Okocha had 73 caps and scored 14 goals for the Super Eagles and was part of the side that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations. He helped the West Africans finish as runners-up in the 2000 edition of the continental tournament and played a key role as Nigeria won bronze medals at 2002, 2004 and 2006 Afcons.
The midfielder played in three World Cup tournaments in 1994, 1998 and 2002 co-hosted by Korea and Japan.
Nowadays, the names of many of the Nigerian football team that lit up the 1996 Olympic Games are known across the globe: the mercurial talent of Jay-Jay Okocha - so good they named him twice;
the languid genius of 1.97m Nwankwo Kanu; the backflip celebrations of Celestine Babayaro - the list goes on.
But before that historic performance in Atlanta, the world was largely unaware of the burgeoning talents of the young Super Eagles.
That doesn’t, however, mean the squad hadn’t already signalled their potential to the world. Keen followers of football would have been aware of the impressive performances of a country whose senior national team had won the 1994 African Cup of Nations, before succumbing 2-1 to eventual runners up Italy in the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup.
And the truly eagle-eyed football fans would have also made note of the fact that, with the Olympics being essentially an U23’s tournament, the members of the Nigerian team who had won the 1993 U17 World Cup in Japan would be coming of age at just the right time.
Even so, this was the Olympics, and the usual suspects would be ready to compete, including the South American giants Argentina and Brazil.
Argentina’s squad for that year’s Games included future legends Hernan Crespo, Javier Zanetti and Matías Almeyda.
Brazil, for their part, could count on an all-star cast that included Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo and a certain 19-year-old forward who would go on to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award on three separate occasions - Ronaldo.
How would the young Nigerians stack up against the traditional powerhouses of world football.
Curtesy The Caffe Fashion Blog Global "&" Universal.
.png)
Comments