It would be stretching the truth a little to say that Nigeria playmaker and captain Kelechi Nwakali has two FIFA U-17 World Cup trophies under his roof. His older brother, now with Manchester City, also struck gold with the Nigeria U-17 team two years ago.
“I was in the pre-World Cup training squad in 2013 but I didn’t make the squad that went on to win the trophy,” he explained in an interview with FIFA.com. “My brother Chidiebere was there, though, and of course I felt proud and happy for the other players.”
Nor did Nwakali have the opportunity to travel to the United Arab Emirates to cheer on his brother, a defender who contributed two goals to the Golden Eaglets’ triumphant campaign. Explaining why, the younger of the two Nwakali boys said: “I had to train at the academy and it would have been impossible for me to go. I didn’t have any contact with him during the tournament because he had to focus on playing. Obviously, I watched all the games on TV though.”
Eighteen months younger than his sibling, Kelechi was not even at home to welcome the returning hero, with football once again the culprit: “I was away playing in a tournament and I only saw him a week later. We spoke about everything and he said that what drove him on the most was his desire to make the people of Nigeria happy.”
So what is driving the No10 on at Chile 2015? “Winning. We came here to retain the trophy. We want to win the title and we haven’t come for anything less.”
A born leader
It is no surprise that Nwakali should mention coach Emmanuel Amuneke, given the key role he plays for the Nigeria boss on the pitch: “I am sort of his right-hand man because he usually gives me instructions to pass on to the rest of my team-mates. And I think that is one of the key things that make me tick is hard work and the ability to listen to your coach and you give 100 per cent, you get your rewards. We’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point.
Yet, as Nwakali went on to explain, as soon as the whistle sounds, Amuneke lets the players take control: “The coach always tells us that when the game starts he can’t be on top of us all the time. He encourages us to think for ourselves and to make our own decisions.”
Rare is the moment when Nwakali is not thinking about football. “It’s been that way since I was 11,” he said. “When I’m not on the pitch, I’m watching matches on TV or playing football games on my phone.”
His role model is Yaya Toure: “I love watching him play because he loves to win. That’s all he wants. You can see it in the way he plays, the way he runs and even in the way he walks on the pitch.”
Though Nwakali is still at the academy where he learned his trade, he has hopes one day of going on to bigger things: “I want to play for a side that’s going places, like Manchester City.” Should he do so, he would be following in the footsteps of brother Chidiebere, who has signed for City and is currently on loan with Spanish side Girona.
Talking of his older brother again, did he get any advice from him before setting off for Chile? “None. We’re close but he’s got his own career to think about. We haven’t even spoken about it and nor will we. Just as he did two years ago, I needed to concentrate on what I was experiencing in Chile. I had to focus on improving so that we can be champions. And thank God we achieved our goal.”
He was quick to point out that the biggest challenge they faced in the competition was Mexico in the semi-final. “Since the tournament began, we’ve always opened the scoring in our matches, but that wasn’t the case against Mexico. As captain, I tried to motivate my players as best as I could, telling them to wake up and that the game was far from over, even though we were a goal down. It worked fine because we came back to win the game at 4-2. There is no doubt that Mexico were our most difficult opponents. I thought their two forwards, the No9 (Eduardo Aguirre) and No10 (Claudio Zamudio), were very good players. They really gave us the run for our money.”
Happy to be back home with the trophy and inspired by the red-carpet reception lined out by the Nigeria Football Federation, Nwakali, once gain looked back at the final game against Mali; “They’re the current African champions at U-17 level. But we’re the reigning U-17 world champions. We’re not afraid of them at all, but we do respect them and realise that they will be worthy opponents. With that at the back of our minds, we were ready for the game. It came out well at the end of it all. Our objective here in Chile has been accomplished. We are back home with the trophy. We’ve done what is needed to be done to make that possible. I just want to go back home, and reflect on what we’ve accomplished, and then I’ll give some thought to my next career move.
