Osimhen, please watch it, by Patrick Omorodion,
My dad, late Pa Robinson Omorodion (may God bless his soul) used to tell us that at a certain point in a man’s life, he should pause and ask himself a question. That is mostly when almost everything he does portrays him in bad light or attracts negative comments about his actions or inactions.
That is the level out star boy, Victor Osimhen is at the moment. And he must watch it if he hopes to remain in the good books of Nigerian fans who, ironically, are hungrier for victories than Osimhen himself.
The incident that caused the spat between Osimhen and Ademola Lookman was the failure of the Atalanta man to pass the ball to a well positioned Osimhen to score even though the Super Eagles were already three goals up then.
Osimhen’s critics labelled him as being selfish, saying he wanted personal glory, to score a hat-trick and get named as the Man of the Match.
The player reacted by saying that it doesn’t matter that Nigeria was already leading 3-0, stressing that if they could score up to five goals, they should score.
He is right because sometimes number of goals determines who goes through when teams end up on same points in group matches.
The fans who labelled him selfish argued that in the same match, Lookman gave him an assist with which he scored one of his two goals. If Lookman is in a position to give Osimhen more assists to score more goals, he should do it because the glory will not be for Osimhen alone but also for him who gave the assists as well as the entire team.
If a player has been selected as the point man of a team and is in a position to score, he should be given the ball, if he fails to score, like Osimhen has done sometimes , then he could be blamed.
The ball Lookman held and failed to pass to Osimhen wasn’t converted by him either to warrant the selfish label Osimhen is being tagged with.
However, it must be said that Lookman’s failure to pass the ball to Osimhen wasn’t enough for the Galatasaray player to blow hot and react angrily towards him and the team captain, Wilfred Ndidi.
He should learn to control his anger and cooperate with his team mates so that tension is not created in the team to the extent that the other players may gang up and refuse passing balls to him henceforth.
This is why both the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF and Coach Eric Chelle must wade in to address the issue now before it gets out of hand.
And Chelle must not apply the same sanction for a perceived offender who refuses to pass to the point man like Clemens Westerhof did during the 1994 World Cup qualifiers as it could backfire.
I recall that in 1993 the Super Eagles were playing against the Ivorians at the Houphet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan and scored first.
They had an opportunity to double the scores because Rashidi Yekini was well positioned to score. He waited for Samson Siasia who was with the ball to pass to him but Siasia thought he could score and shot instead. He missed it.
Yekini was unhappy but he didn’t react angrily like Osimhen did. Instead it was Coach Westerhof who was mad with Siasia because Cote d’Ivoire did not only equalise but went ahead to win the game 2-1.
That was the end of a regular or first team shirt for Siasia under Westerhof. Some players in the team who were close to Siasia didn’t like it and plotted against Yekini. Nigeria qualified for her first World Cup quite alright and Yekini scored the country’s first World Cup goal. He could have scored more which could have helped Nigeria go beyond the second round but he never did. Osimhen is not a selfish player like people are saying but he should not let his hunger to win games not to be seen for personal glory like some of his critics are al- ready saying. Yekini’s hunger for goals wasn’t personal glory either.
It is said that one should never throw away the baby with the bath water. No matter Osimhen’s temperament, he shouldn’t be punished for it by dropping him from the team like some people have suggested.
The technical crew who are managers of the players should be able to sit him down and talk to him. It is wrong for some people to tag him as an undisciplined player. Having hot temper and being aggressive towards achieving a goal are not the same as being arrogant or undisciplined. We have had very undisciplined players in the past both in the Super Eagles and other junior national teams. We can name a few here.
Etim Esin was everything a good player could be on the pitch but off the pitch, he was something else. The attitude almost caused him his life when he was shot by armed robbers during one of his escapades.
The Flying Eagles coach then, Chris Udemezue, now late, didn’t throw him away but urged the NFF to help save him because he knew his value to the team. Another player was Tarila Okorowanta, a bundle of talent in his hey days. He wouldn’t train when others trained but coaches always fielded him and he delivered. So before Osimhen allows his temperament to ruin his rising career, he should ask himself a question like my dad said.
He should be able to ask himself the same question an- other irascible player, Mario Balotelli once asked him- self, “why always me”.
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My dad, late Pa Robinson Omorodion (may God bless his soul) used to tell us that at a certain point in a man’s life, he should pause and ask himself a question. That is mostly when almost everything he does portrays him in bad light or attracts negative comments about his actions or inactions. That […]
The post Osimhen, please watch it, by Patrick Omorodion appeared first on Vanguard News.
, , Emmanuel Okogba, {authorlink},, , Vanguard News, January 11, 2026, 12:03 am
