Former Super Eagles striker, Jonathan Akpoborie on Saturday relieved memories of his historic contributions to the Nigerian cadet team, Golden Eaglets’ conquest of the maiden FIFA U-16 World Cup in China.
Though the competition subsequently became FIFA U-17 World Cup, Akpoborie scored one of the goals in the maiden final, that made Nigeria the first African nation to win a major global soccer competition, and the former striker admitted it was a turning point in his life.
After winning the competition again in 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015, Nigeria has become the eternal highest winners at the cadet level worldwide, yet ‘Jonny,’ who went on to star for several top German clubs, including Carl Ziess Jena, Hansa Rostock, VfL Wolfsburg and VfB Stuttgart, says China ’85 was the real deal for him.
Akpobori wrote about ugust 11 in history: “August 11, 1985, the day that changed my life for ever.”
Adding to the celebrations, BBC correspondent, Oluwashina Okeleji wrote a day later on Facebook: “2#OnThisDay in 1985: Nigeria beat West Germany 2-0 with goals from Jonathan Akpoborie and Victor Igbinoba to win the FIFA U-16 World Cup in China.
“It was #Africa’s first success at a Fifa global event. #Nigeria’s president in 1985 was Buhari. It was changed to U-17 World Cup in 1991. Nigeria’s the most successful team in the tournament with 5 ???????????????????? titles and finished runner-up on 3 occasions.”
