I Inherited Sports From My Parents

Warri Wolves all-action striker Ekigho Ehiosun has taken Nigerian football by the storm this season with goals for both club and country. The recently qualified petroleum engineer, who will celebrate his 21st birthday next month, made a goal-scoring debut for the Super Eagles in a friendly against Sierra Leone in Lagos in February. He spoke to mtnfootball.com about his footballing career and other issues

Ekigho, you must be delighted to be picked for next month’s top games against Argentina and Ethiopia?

I was so, so happy that I was included in the team. I thank Almighty God for propelling me thus far in my career. I sincerely thank the chief coach, Samson Siasia, for believing in me. I thank coach (Simon) Kalika and the rest of Eagles technical crew for encouraging and guiding me also. I also thank my team mates for the love and brotherly love among us. I promise to do all my best and continue to work extra hard to justify my inclusion in the team.

Before the Nations Cup qualifier in Ethiopia, the Eagles will host Argentina in a friendly in Abuja?

The friendly would be a good preparation for the important Nations Cup qualifier against Ethiopia. I am sure we will do our best as a team to try and win and make Nigerians happy. I would also make this appeal as a part of the team to tell the fans to be patient with us when the goals are not coming or whenever we are trying to do our best in the game and we are initially finding it difficult to break the Argentines. Their patience and support would definitely propel us to win the match on our own soil.

You are already being compared to the legendary Rashidi Yekini?

It is not right for anybody to compare me with a legend like Rashidi Yekini who had represented this country in no small way. He has done great things for this country, while I am just beginning. I have been hearing his exploits since I was very young. So, I want to be known as Ekhigo Ehiosun, not Rashidi Yekini, because the vacuum he has left behind is very difficult to fill.

Yekini is a player to look up to but I just want to be my real self and nothing more. What I set before me is to work extra hard every day to ensure I become a prolific scorer that my coaches can always rely on. I am working hard and trying to listen to my coaches and also learn from my seniors in the Super Eagles so that I could be a complete striker everybody would be proud of. Let nobody compare me with one of my idols, Yekini. I hope to achieve what he has achieved or even more in the nearest future.

So, are you under pressure any time you play for Nigeria?

I love playing football. He has become part of me and I just try to enjoy myself and do my best on the field, so I don’t feel any pressure playing for my country or club. But I am always very happy any time I score goals. Everybody expected the Eagles ‘B’ team to win the WAFU Cup only for Togo to upset you.

Honestly, I don’t know what happened or what went wrong in that match. We did our best as a team but we were not lucky enough to emerge champions?

I was so confident that we would win because we were very ready to win. But that day everything just went wrong. I couldn’t say what went wrong, so also my colleagues. I had thought that I would win my first trophy as an Eagles player but man proposes, God disposes. We lost to hard luck. Luck was not just on our side. When luck fails you, you will do everything and it won’t work. Our coaches did everything humanly possible for us to win the cup. Let us leave that behind us now and face the Argentina friendly and especially the Africa Nations Cup qualifier away in Ethiopia. If we win these two games, I am very sure Nigerians would forget the WAFU Cup loss.

How would you describe the last three months of your career?

Even if I were to surrender my whole body, it wouldn’t be enough to thank God for what he has done in my life and most especially my career. On and off the field God has done wonders in my life and words are not enough to appreciate what He has done for me. In my life generally I need to thank Him from the bottom of my heart and to the depth of my soul.

On the back of such great form, you must be on your way to playing in Europe?

I am currently enjoying my football with Warri Wolves. If something good comes my way, you people will know, but not until then.

Did your parents support you when you started out kicking the ball as a kid?

I would say I enjoyed my daddy’s support from the beginning. He has been so supportive as regards my playing football. But my mum has always been against it. She feared my getting injured and any time I come back home with injuries after playing football, she always said ‘didn’t I tell you?’ My mum always screamed and complained then. People were telling my mum then this your child has been playing football right from when he was in your womb but she did not listen. But my dad has been there for me then. He used to say leave him, let him play his football. But right now my mum is now my biggest fan. She is so supportive now and encourages me a lot. She always asks me if I have a match so that she can come there to watch me play. My entire family has been so supportive too.

Did any of your parents play active football?

Yes, my dad played football but did not play for a popular club side during his time. He was very good as an attacker too but injuries cut short his career and he later turned to officiating of the game. He started as an assistant referee and ended up as a centre referee. My mum was an athlete. So, I would say I inherited sports from my parents.

Any plans to show appreciation to your parents if you hit stardom very soon and begins to rake in millions of dollars in the game?

I have great plans for my parents and I am praying to God Almighty everyday to always prolong my parents’ lives so that they could live long to enjoy the fruits of their labour. They have really sacrificed for me since my childhood ensuring I enjoy good life and also go to school as well as encouraged me in the game of football. So by the time I start raking my millions I have plans to make them happy and also make them appreciate the fact that they have a son who really appreciates what they have done for him since the day I was born. But I won’t disclose what I will do for them now. But people would know when the time comes because I love them so much. Besides God, they are next.

What would you say could have replaced football in your life?

I started playing the game at a very tender age. But even then, I told myself if I had to play football, I will still go to school. Actually I first thought of being a computer engineer and to combine this with football. But as I grew up and begun getting some football lessons from my respected coach of blessed memory, Jumbul Isheme of JB Strikers in Warri, I now decided to make football my career. I would say 70 percent of my career, which includes being humble, patient and also working hard, I learnt from coach Jumbul. He was my second father because I was always with him and he was a very good tactician. May his gentle soul rest in peace. All along I have always had it on my mind that I won’t shun schooling for football or vice versa. I was convinced that I could do both and still achieve my goals. Thank God I was having it in mind at that time that being a petroleum engineer won’t be a bad idea. Today, by the grace of God I am a graduate of petroleum and natural gas processing from the Petroleum Training Institute in Warri and I majored on petroleum. So, when I am done with the game, I still have something to fall back on.

How did you feel when coach Siasia suddenly asked you to replace injured Emmanuel Emenike in the friendly against Sierra Leone in Lagos on February 9?

Sincerely speaking I was tensed during the match because playing for the senior national team is different from playing a league match. The difference is quite big. I knew I would play in the match as a substitute since it was a friendly but I never thought I was going to score. At the initial stage, when coach Samson Siasia told me I was included in the squad for the friendly and with the calibre of players invited, I thought I would be on bench throughout the match. I also thought I was included in the team just to garner experience for the Obama Cup that we couldn’t play eventually in the United States of America. But when I saw the way things were going in the match, I mean the injuries to key players like Emmanuel Emenike and the rest, it was then it dawned on me that I was going to play. A lot of things came to mind when I was about coming on because there is a big difference between playing for your club in a league match and the Super Eagles, where the best players in the country are. So, the first time Emenike got injured my colleagues on the bench told me to put on my boots that I was the next to play. But I told them ‘Comot there! Na you be the coach?’ But before I could say ‘wetin’, coach Siasia said ‘Ehis, get ready to replace him’. But the striker stood up and continued the game. So, the next time he was injured again I did not even wait for any instructions from the chief coach before I put on my boots and warmed up to replace Emenike.

When I was entering the pitch I couldn’t believe it. My friend, goalkeeper Akpan Bassey, then told me, ‘Ehis, go, na you wan score second goal for us o! Go score am for me. (go in there and score for me because it is you who will score the second goal). That was why I raced to embrace Bassey when I actually scored the winning goal to thank him for believing in me.

Coach Simon (Kalika) should also take part of the credit for the goal that I scored that day. I have never seen a coach like that. We all know what coach Siasia means to the players. They are just too wonderful with the way they motivate and psyche up players. They are two of the best I have ever played under. Any time, any day I will acknowledge them as great coaches who have really turned my career around for good. I will preach this to anywhere in the world. They are just too great. When I was about entering the field Simon called me back and said ‘Ehis, you played a match last weekend and you scored a hat- trick against Sharks’ and I said ‘yes’. He now said, ‘I want to tell you that those Sharks defenders are better than these (Sierra Leone) defenders. Just go out there and do what you know how to do best. Go and score a goal for me’. I now said, ‘Coach, don’t worry I will make you proud and happy. I will do exactly as you told me’. Coach Siasia also looked at me and said, ‘Ehis, just go there and calm down, take your time and play easy’. Thank God I did not let them down. Because of the confidence they had in me, I was able to score the winning goal. I am sure that given more opportunity like that I will surely explode the way the two great coaches expect me to.

If coach Samson Siasia throws you into the battle field against Ethiopia, will you be ready to do Nigeria proud?

Very ready and I am confident and very sure that I will score against Ethiopia, like I did against Sierra Leone. What gives me joy as a striker is scoring goals. I need to pay coaches Siasia and Simon back with at least a goal against Ethiopia for the confidence they have in me.

Who did you enjoy playing alongside in the Sierra Leone friendly?

I have never played with most of them before. Apart from the big boys who I have watched play, among the new boys who played against Sierra Leone, I will single out Joel Obi and Ahmed Musa for being outstanding. If I may confess, I really enjoyed playing with Joel Obi and Ahmed Musa. Musa told me after the game that he played against me in Warri while starring for Kano Pillars before joining VVV Venlo of Holland, but I couldn’t remember him. He told me that he was the one who got injured in the match then. Later, I remembered him and I told him that he has really improved compared to the time he played in Warri.

Honestly, I can’t wait to play alongside Obi and Musa again. They are wonderful and highly talented players.