NEWS
A selection of FirstTouch's best football writing, brought to you by emerging journalists, collaborators, and fans.
Remember the name Samuel Chukwueze
Nigeria’s talent pool is growing to be the stuff of legend, evidence seen in young players like Samuel Chukwueze. The forward has been making a name for himself with Villareal in La Liga this season, leaving defenders for dead, and developing a taste for the goals as he has scored in all 3 of the competitions his side are participating in.
When one receives the ball on the flank, gets enough time to switch it to his favored left foot, goes at Marcelo, drops a shoulder to call in Casemiro to assist his compatriot, before Toni Kroos and Sergio Ramos are required to put out the fire - you know what’s up. An unknown attacker just knocked at Real Madrid’s door unannounced and introduced himself to the world in a language punctuated by yet another left foot for Real Madrid to lose sleep over. The Nigerian teenager, Samuel Chimerenka Chukwueze, looks to be a real talent.
He needed only 4-minutes
“He is the type you don’t introduce to the “big league” but rather entreat the big game to welcome the youngster, roll out the red carpet if they have to. ”
Of course the night belonged to former Arsenal midfielder, Santi Cazorla but was seemingly scripted in Chukwueze’s hometown of Ikwuano, Abia State in Nigeria. Cazorla, 34, grabbed a brace as the yellow submarine of Villareal shared the spoils with the European and club world cup champions in a La Liga matchday 18 encounter. The 19-year-old Samuel was however completely focused on other business, touching every ball as if it was the last time - very much persuaded to leave it all on the pitch as he took the rare chance afforded him by Luis Garcia. After making his first team debut for Villareal on 20 September 2018, Chukwueze has already created experiences that justifies him being mistaken with more established stars of the modern game. One other notable experience occurred just four minutes into the Madrid match, the boy is surely not one to have cold feet. Chukwueze burst into the Los Blancos box inviting world cup winner, Raphael Varane to challenge for the ball before dropping a shoulder and squeezing a delightful pass between Casemiro and the former. The pass met the unmarked Cazorla who had the simple task of curling it into the far bottom corner.
There isn’t actually a lot to tell about Chukwueze who signed for Villareal’s youth side in 2017 from his home town’s Diamond Football Academy. He made his senior debut for the Yellow Submarine’s reserve side on 15 April 2018 before the first team debut in September of the same year against Glasgow Rangers in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League. Samuel first tested Spanish La Liga football early November against Levante, also making his international senior debut later that month for the Super Eagles in a 0-0 friendly draw against Uganda. As you can tell, he hasn’t had a lot of caps or minutes come his way, with only 8 league appearances where he has contributed 2 goals and 1 assist. He has however shown his worth on every occasion. He is the type you don’t introduce to the “big league” but rather entreat the big game to welcome the youngster, roll out the red carpet if they have to. He knows what it means to take his chances and at this rate, only a few stops will he need to reach global stardom if any at all. What about his playing style?
The “reincarnation” of Arjen Robben?
One famous “one legged rooster” in the global game is about to call it quits but may be re-incarnated in the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup Bronze Boot winner. Chukwueze has been likened to Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben who is famous for terrorising defenders on one foot. The Dutch footballer is literally flat footed, able to play with only his left-foot and the young Nigerian looks to be resembling the same trait. Running at players in full speed, cutting inside the box unhindered, laying up passes or going at goal - almost like a hot knife cutting through butter. Just like Robben who swirled in the Spain box at the 2014 FIFA world cup, twisting and turning Ramos, Pique and Casillas who almost kindly started sweeping the pitch with their arms, before he banged the ball into the roof of the net - Samuel looks well capable to re-introduce such.
It’s another beautiful 2019 day, another Nigerian and African star added to the fold. The high school that gave the infamous African novelist, Chinua Achebe to the world, has added a second gift in Samuel Chimerenka Chukwueze.
FT 2019 Preview: Competition heating up in the Spanish La Liga?
Contrary to assumed state of affairs, the Spanish La Liga title race could the toughest of all Europe’s top leagues this campaign. And quite a number of African stars are very much caught up in the thick of things. You do no want to miss it.
Wakaso Mubarak of Deportivo Alaves (R) being followed by Luka Modric of Real Madrid CF (L) during the La Liga match between Deportivo Alaves and Real Madrid CF at Estadio de Mendizorroza on October 6, 2018 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
(Oct. 5, 2018 - Source: Getty Images Europe)
It’s no secret that for quite some time, the Spanish top flight league, the La Liga has been labelled uncompetitive and predicable by many as a result of Barcelona and Real Madrid’s unmatched dominance, almost taking turns to win the title. All this has since changed since Diego Simeone began a revolution at Atletico Madrid even winning the crown in 2013/14 season.
This particular campaign promises to oversee yet another title race whose winner will not be easily determined by either picking Barcelona or Real Madrid. After 17 matches played, only five points separate the first three teams, the least among Europe’s top leagues such as the English Premier league, Bundesliga and Italian Serie A. Real Madrid are fourth, seven points off leaders Barcelona. Atletico Madrid and Sevilla occupy second and third place, very much in what appears to be a fiery and scintillating title race. Deportivo Alaves are strikingly lurking in fifth place, two points off Real Madrid and knocking on the champions league places. As you might have guessed, there are of course exciting Africans very much playing crucial-roles in the teams participating in this race, just like anywhere else.
One such player is Wague. At 19 years of age, Senegal’s Moussa Wague became the youngest ever African scorer in the history of the world cup back in June 2018. He then secured a summer move to Barcelona and is set to make his first team appearance in January 2019 as the league leaders aim to solve their defensive problems. Atletico Madrid are very much content with the services of Thomas Partey who continues to be a reliable option in the middle of the park, as are Alaves who have two Ghanaians in their ranks. The 25-year-old Mubarak Wakaso and 24-year-old Patrick Twumasi.
This may just be the most exciting title race in all of Europe this year.
“This particular campaign promises to oversee yet another title race whose winner will not be easily determined by either picking Barcelona or Real Madrid. After 17 matches played, only five points separate the first three teams, the least among Europe’s top leagues such as the English Premier league, Bundesliga and Italian Serie A. ”
FT Pause Moment: Should "dummies" be considered as assists? Inspired by Suarez
FirstTouch’s Pause captures rare moments of the global game of football that inspires new thinking, laughter, controversies amongst many other things worth pausing for. This week, we feature Luis Suarez’s role in Barca’s 4-2 Champions League win over Tottenham. Could he be hinting at a development worth considering? Check it out.
Well, the UEFA Champions League matchday 2 is behind us now, but some moments stay with us forever. One such performance would obviously be vintage Messi showing up big time for Barcelona but schooling Tottenham Hotspur on the fundamentals of GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) behaviour. The 31-year-old created all of the four Barca goals and scored two as the La Liga champions registered a 4-2 victory at Wembley. Croatia’s Ivan Rakitic and Philippe Coutinho were also on the score sheet, banging some seriously ridiculous goals. One player not on the scoresheet or having a cute statistic for example, an assist, but equally crucial to the overall performance was Luis Suarez.
Two dummies, two goals
Luis Suarez of Barcelona shoots while under pressure from Davinson Sanchez of Tottenham Hotspur during the Group B match of the UEFA Champions League between Tottenham Hotspur and FC Barcelona at Wembley Stadium on October 3, 2018 in London, United Kingdom.
(Oct. 2, 2018 - Source: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images Europe)
Assists and goals have become some of the most important stats in the modern game. GOATs have been crowned based on such and the value of players continue to be influenced greatly by statistics more than anything else in the digital age, leaving many assuming the role of being unsung heroes. An assist in particular is simply awarded to the person who makes the final pass before a goal is scored. They are considered to have “assisted” the goal, laying it up on the plate for the scorer.
Now, what about those who do the same without touching the ball? On two occasions, Jordi Alba squared the ball into the box that found Messi after Suarez had skipped past the ball, in other words dummying, to draw out the defenders and give Messi the space to find his favorite spot in the net without pressure. In fact, on the first instance, Coutinho and Suarez had to both dummy the ball, confusing the Spurs defenders and aid Messi to deliver his masterpiece. Credit to Alba for delivering the assists by delivering the ball into the box, but what of Suarez’s awareness to know where Messi would be in a glance and drive all the defenders out of the “heat area” without touching the ball but with just simple cheeky movements. What brilliance!
The Uruguayan will not be in the record books for such, now and in the future and maybe even get criticized for not scoring as many goals as a striker. Alba laid up the ball for Messi, but Suarez increased the odds for Messi scoring exponentially. Looks like an assist to me, maybe even more.
“Jordi Alba squared the ball into the box that found Messi after Suarez had skipped past the ball, in other words dummying, to draw out the defenders and give Messi the space to find his favorite spot in the net without pressure.”