Sport: The Untold Story of Victor Osimhen,

 

Victor Oshimen is currently the golden boy with the golden boot in Nigeria and across the U17 boys in world football as his name has been written in the history books of the FIFA U-17 Tournament with his remarkable feat of 10goals in 7games which would probably stand for years just like the Sinama Pongolle record stood for fourteen years before he broke the record.

So how did it all start for the most sought after U17 star which according to rumours has already penned a deal with totteham, was it all rose? Did he ever dream of been the next big football star?  His story is a classical example of Grass To Grass, Victor Osimhen was born on the 29th of December 1998 making him the last child of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Osimhen whom had given birth to six children already.

Olusosun is a small community around Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, it accommodates one of the largest dumpsites in Africa and that is the house where Victor was born. Although, it is just about few kilometers away from Lagos State Government House, the innermost of Olusosun still exhibit the features of an ancient town and most of its buildings can be describe as face me- I-face-you and there are still many mud houses on many streets in the neighbourhood. Olusosun Primary School serves as the melting pot for youngsters in the community. Every evening they gather for football. The youth in the area protested passionately when they were barred from playing on the pitch due to a renovation work going at a time.

Many football stars in Africa never lived lives of affluence before reaching stardom and little Osimhen was no different. He is from a broke background just like many kids in Nigeria he was introduced to struggles in the streets even before he could correctly pronounce his name. The hardship Victor faced and his family was so biting that little Victor, then a toddler, was made to face scorching sun in Lagos traffic where the mother used to sell sachet water to supplement her paltry income as a civil servant. The first born of their family whose name is Andrew had abandoned my education to care for Victor his other brothers. Victor admitted in an interview during the competition that he learnt many tricks from his elder brother who is also a footballer. According to Victor his brother Andrew was a local star at Olusosun and its environs but had to abandon the game to face his newspaper business. He had to start the business and throw away the idea of furthering his education so that he could raise money to help his younger siblings.

Osimhen knew that he had talent and could make something out of football but things were not going as he expected and football wasn’t definitely going to put food on the table at least that was the case then and for someone that has many talent he was very close to abandoning the beautiful game for other endeavours so that he could make ends meet. But after much begging from his friend Mayowa Olorunfemi, also captain of his local club, the Ultimate Strikers FC and talks from his coach back then Chinedu Ogbonna he listened and started coming to training again and today he is been celebrated. Coach Paul Irikhewe was the first man to introduce him to organised football, it was he who saw the potential in Victor so seen what Victor did at the just concluded Junior World Cup wasn't  a surprise to. Pa Osimhen wasn't aware of his son talent before he became an international star with this stardom Pa Osimhen now walks tall among his peers. Pa Osimhen never saw his son play he doesn’t even own a generator to watch during the U-17 World Cup in Chile. He relied on information from his other children and neighbours.

Victor was sent home when he went for the National Sports Festival by the coaches of Lagos State football team preparing because he was not good enough but now they can’t stop craving for his attention. He has no godfather, no one gave him a note to Golden Eaglets coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, all Victor needed was 10 minutes to win the heart of his coach during a trial. At the trial he collected a ball from a defender in just few minutes on the pitch and scored from that, after just 10 minutes the coach asked him to go and sit down and since then he has been part of the team. When Victor scored his first goal of the tournament in the 2-0 win over USA, he went straight to the coach and prostrated, when he was asked why he prostrated to the coach he said “I prostrated before coach Amuneke after the goal against USA to show appreciation for all what I have learned from him” .

Complied by Adekunle Adewale