Victor Osimhen recalls.
‘One day somebody told me, “The national team is coming back to Lagos in two weeks.”
I said, “Whenever they arrive, call me.”
The day came, and I ran from my work, got on the bus, and went straight to the stadium. When I arrived….
600 kids. Everybody begging to get seen.
There were so many kids that Emmanuel Amunike, the coach, got on the microphone and said, “I cannot see all of you today. It’s impossible. We will be in Abuja in two weeks. If you KNOW you are good — REALLY good — then come to Abuja and see me.”
Abuja was 9 hours away by car. And I didn’t have a car. I knew this guy, who I guess you could call an agent. But like a neighborhood agent. I told him, “It’s over.”
Two weeks later, he called me and said, “I borrowed a car. Let’s go.”
I said, “Where are we going to stay?”
He said, “Don’t worry, I have a brother in Abuja.”
The morning before we were supposed to leave, I got so nervous. I had never left my town before. It was comfortable. Four hours went by, and the agent was calling me.
I told him, “Forget it. I’m not going nowhere. I’m cool here.”
And that’s when my father heard what was going on, and he said, “You need to go.”
There was no big speech. He just said, “You need to go.”
And I knew that he was right. I left home with a backpack and two pairs of clothes. The one I was wearing, and a green kit in my bag. Lucky green. We drove to Abuja in the oldest car you can imagine, and we arrived at midnight.
The next morning, the sun came up, and I saw 1 million kids with a dream.
Maybe 1 million is an exaggeration, but not by much. There must have been 900 kids waiting outside this stadium. The first day, I didn’t even get on the pitch. The second day, one of the coaches finally pointed at me.
“Green shirt. Let’s go. You have 15 MINUTES.”
Just 15 minutes to change my life. I knew that the only way to impress them was to run. So I ran until I was sweating blood.
I ended up scoring 2 goals in 15 minutes.
I thought that maybe I had a chance. But then the coaches got on a microphone, and they addressed the crowd. They called out some names, and I did not hear my name. Everybody started walking to the parking lot.
My dream was dead. I was just about to get in the car when I heard people shouting.
“Hey! Hey! The guy in green!”
Huh???
I turned around, and some kids were waving to me.
I pointed to my chest, like in the movies.
Me???
I looked behind me.
“The guy in green!”
Lucky green.
I ran back over to them, and they said, “Hey, the coach wants to see you. The team doctor told him you were the guy who scored two goals. Are you the guy?”
I said, “I’m the guy!!! I’M THE GUY!!!!”
I went back into the stadium and the doctor was pointing at me and holding up two fingers.
He said, “That’s the kid.”
Two fingers saved me.
If the team doctor didn’t do that, I would not be a footballer today. I would probably be at the bottom of a well.
Still, the trials went on and on. If you had “made it” then you stayed with the team at a hotel. But I was still staying with my agent’s brother at his house. I was helping take their kids to school and washing up. I remember I was so shy that I didn’t understand that the food that his wife was putting on the table was supposed to be for me. I came home from training, and I saw the food and I thought it was leftovers. I would break off a piece of bread and take it out behind the house and eat it in secret.
One day, his wife was cooking and she said, “What’s wrong? You don’t like my food?”
I said, “It’s for me???”
She said, “What? Yes, of course! You must be starving!”
When I finally made it onto the team for real, and they gave me a bed in the hotel, I told her, “Thank you. You saved me. I will always pray for you. You’re family to me now.”
My life changed so fast. The next year, we went to play in the U-17 World Cup in Chile, and I exploded. I scored 10 goals in 7 games and won the Golden Boot. We were world champions. Nobody expected it. Even I did not expect it. I remember when I came back from the World Cup, they gave me a little bit of money. I was finally a millionaire, but in naira unfortunately. Hahahah. So a few thousand Euros. I called my sisters and said, “I am moving you all from a one-room house to a two-room house. Everything is taken care of. All I ask from you is to include me in your prayers.”
A few years later, I signed for Wolfsburg and I was blessed with more money than I ever saw in my dreams. I remember I was refreshing the bank app on my phone. Refresh. Still poor. Refresh. Still poor. Refresh…… and the number changed. The number got big. It looked fake. I was going nuts. Literally, I was jumping around going nuts.
Two years before that, I was selling water bottles for 10 cents.
On a good day I’d make maybe $2.
Now I saw a million. On my phone.
CULLED FROM EGBON OLUWOLE OKE
