Nigeria youth international Orji Okonkwo created the opening goal for Bologna in their 1-2 loss to Italian Serie A Champions Juventus yesterday.
The Flying Eagles ace laid a pass for Saphir Taider to blast home a thunderous effort from outside the box in the 52nd minutes to open scoring in the game. He however ended on the losing side.
Okonkwo lasted the entire duration of the game, a sign of how high coach Roberto Donadoni rates the 19 year old who only ‎joined the team in the summer following a string of fine performances for the Nigeria U-17 and 20.
His fine display was however blotted after he picked up a booking for a foul on Kwadwo Asamoah eight minutes from full time, and he was lucky not to have been given his marching orders when he tripped Mario Mandzukic six minutes after his initial foul.
Speaking to owngoalnigeria.com, the power playing forward who is nicknamed “big striker” by his teammates in the Nigeria youth team said he is eyeing a better season next year to force himself into the plans of the Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr.
” It has been a nice season for me, I have to thank God for how I settled down in Italy. Hopefully I will go a step forward next season and push my way into the senior national team of Nigeria for the World Cup 2018″, he said.
Osas Mahawi
