I Never Believed I Could Play For Eagles – Eduok

After spending just four years in Nigeria’s topflight league, Dolphins striker Emem Eduok never thought he would be representing Nigeria at senior level, so soon. Well, his pessimism could have been right, what with the coaches preference for strikers based abroad. However, his goal scoring ability endeared him to Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi. The coach duly handed him an invite for the friendly match against Ghana’s Meteors to commemorate the opening of the Uyo International Stadium. The 20-year-old forward paid his coach back with the match winner, which earned him a place in the record books as the first man ever to score at the new stadium. Eduok rose above the Ghanaian defenders to head right-back Solomon Kwambe’s inch-perfect cross past goalkeeper Richard Ofori in the 35th minute and put the home-based Eagles ahead of their archrivals. It turned out the only goal of the match and the Akwa Ibom-born player became an instant hero in front of his home fans, who mobbed him in celebration. “It was a nice thing to have started scoring for the national team in front of my home fans. It’s a day I will never forget,” he said. “I never believed I could play for Nigeria after only four seasons in the domestic league, it came as a surprise. It’s a miracle finding myself in the team among players I used to normally watch on television.” Now Eduok is enjoying the glamour that comes with playing international football and for him there is no more going back. In training he finds it difficult to imagine himself alongside the array of big stars in the Eagles camp. He even tries to score against Vincent Enyeama, his boyhood hero. Indeed it is a dream come true for the youngster. “I feel so happy playing for my country because it’s not an easy thing being called up among millions of talented football players. It’s a great honour to be among the 25 players for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. I feel proud seeing myself play with big stars like Enyeama and Mikel and strikers like Ike Uche and Emmanuel Emenike. It has done so well to enhance my career. I know I will keep on growing.” Before the final Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa’s BafanaBafana in Uyo on November 19, Eduok was anxiously waiting to see if his name would be on the list for the crucial game. He wanted to make his home fans happy once more. “I will always do my best as a striker when am on the pitch. I love to score goals; it’s a thing of joy to score goals as a striker. So, I always do my best whenever I am selected to play for either club or country. I am paid to score goals. If I am selected, I will love to score in front of my family and friends and fans out there. They are a major source of inspiration,” he told our correspondent at the Le Meridien, Uyo, a day before the game. He wasn’t listed eventually and the Eagles crashed out after playing a 2-2 draw with the visitors. The implication is that the Eagles would not be able to defend their title in Equatorial Guinea next year. The 20-year-old is now thinking of the next step in his career: a move abroad after creating a huge impression locally in just four seasons. He admits that he has had offers abroad but he is hoping to tow the career paths of Chelsea’s Mikel Obi and Schalke 04 forward, ChineduObasi, who braved the odds and the wintery conditions in Norway to become established stars in the more English Premier League and the German Bundesliga respectively. But the soft-spoken player is not in a hurry to play abroad. He said, “We’ve been talking (with agents) but I will like to start my European career in Norway as a young player. Honestly, that is where I like. “It doesn’t bother me (that I am still playing in Nigeria) because I am still a young football player; I need to take my time. I need to learn from the likes of Mikel Obi and Vincent Enyeama. Football is all about time, I don’t need to rush things. I have to be patient and learn. I know this will help me.” But Dolphins won’t just let their prized jewel go like that. They have reportedly slammed $1m on the player, who emerged as the Most Valuable Player of the just-ended 2014 Federation Cup in Lagos. He scored 20 league goals and four Federation Cup goals. To justify his importance to the Port Harcourt side, the striker scored Dolphins lone goal in the Federation Cup final 2-1 defeat to Enyimba at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, on Sunday. But the dangerous forward believes he will make a move when the time is right, irrespective of the staggering amount that has been put on him by the Dolphins management. “I haven’t heard of anything like that ($1m price tag). I was surprised when I read it in the media. That is not going to be possible. When it’s time, I have to leave. I don’t agree with that. “I am worth the money but I have played Nigerian football for four seasons and I think I should move when the time is right.” He notched 20 league goals this season, but what will last in the memories of followers of the domestic league is perhaps the record that he has set, that may take quite a while before it’s broken. Eduok scored all six goals as Dolphins drubbed relegated Nembe City 6-0. He became the first man ever to attain such number of goals in a single game in the Nigerian topflight league. That moment represents the highlight of the player’s career on the domestic scene. He insists he had to work hard to score each goal in the one-sided match, saying contrary to what people might think, Nembe players gave a good account of themselves despite the embarrassing score line. He said, “I felt so happy because I didn’t believe that I would be able to score up to six goals in a particular match. Nobody has ever done that in the Premier League in Nigeria maybe I have just succeeded in setting a record that will last for ages. That was a great match for me. In fact, it is one of my best matches so far. “The match wasn’t an easy one, people that watched it know. And I was not even selfish but the goals were just coming and I felt happy.” Eduok is gradually carving a niche for himself as a man of records. Now, he is aiming to transfer his heroics to Europe, hopefully Norway, where he can also set some records moving on in his blossoming career. But first he has Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, to thank for believing in him even when he (Eduok) didn’t believe that he could be playing for his country so soon. “He (Keshi) is an excellent coach and he has shown us that he believes in home-based players by constantly inviting us to the national team. That tells a lot about him and I thank him for that,” he said. Source:punch