The interesting thing about scorums monthly contests is that it gives each and every writer the liberty and adequate time to write without limitations, heat or haste. link for the July contest announcement
I thought i may linger for the reminder of the days before the month ends but decided against it and have gotten round to write about my favorite team today.
I was born and bred in Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno state. Maiduguri is known to be one of the hubs of soccer in Nigeria. Every house, Street and Ward have soccer players or some sort of team. As teens, we use to play soccer at every available plot of land, front yards, aside the conventional school play grounds and soccer pitches scattered around.
I grew up as an active soccer player, in fact, i simply found myself playing the game because i can't remember if anyone had ever taught me how to play it. I have played soccer for my street, ward, primary school, secondary school, Boys Brigade, right up to university and state league division 2 levels.
My team mates use to call me Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, they said i play soccer like him being a natural left footer and a good shot at goal. Forward left flank was my best position but i was eventually converted to a defender playing 5 and 6 due to my skills, built and experience.
One of my memorable moment as a defender was in 1999 as a third year undergraduate on field trip to Mambila Plateau where we stopped over at College of Education Jalingo to play a friendly match with the school team. We lost the match 2:1 but i can't forget the cheers from the girls of my school during and after the match. They said that if it were not for my defensive skills, we could have lost woefully.
MY FAVORITE TEAM.
my favorite team is non other than the one and only Indefatigable Manchester United football club, otherwise referred to as Man Utd or the Red Devils. One may wonder why someone like me from far away Maiduguri, a backyard city in Nigeria will have Man Utd as his favorite club, a club far away in England. Well that is what football is, in fact that is what sports in general is. It brings people from different walks of life, Sexes, countries or continents together. It has the uncanny ability to break any form of boundary, barrier and renders distance nothing. A typical example is our Scorum today.
I became a Man Utd fan in the early 90s and it was largely because of the quality of players who by right could be referred to as legendary the club had at the time. I was also attracted by the charismatic gum chewing Manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who's serious and brooding no nonsense demeanor is unequaled by any soccer manager at the time and even today.
My most favorite all time players of Man utd were Roy Kene, David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Edwin Van Der Sar, Andy Cole, Dimitar Barbatov, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Van Nistelroy, Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo.
Among the crop of players mentioned above, i was much more enamored to Ryan Giggs, perhaps because he is a natural left footer like me. But one cannot deny the fact that he is a mesmerizing player who's contributions to Man utd and soccer in general was excellent. Ryan Giggs played for the club since he was a boy, scoring more than 115 world class goals during his career with Man Utd.
My most memorable, astonishing, magnificent and gigantic matches played by Man utd among many is the match played against Bolton Football club in 2002. A perfectly entertaining match which Man utd won 4:0 with Van Nistelroy and Ole G Solskjaer scoring the goals. While the other match i will never forget was the 2006/2007 quarter final match of the UEFA Champions League between Man Utd and Roma football club. Man utd trashed and humiliated Roma 7:1 (Man utd lost the first leg 2:1) with Christiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, Wyne Rooney and Alan Smith scoring the scintillating goals that night.
It was a beautiful night for me, because despite being unemployed at the time, i was able to buy drinks from my weeks pocket money for my friends to celebrate my favorite clubs victory.
One other thing i need to mention is the overwhelming joy i feel whenever my favorite club beats Arsenal Football club, any other club can beat my favorite club but no Arsenal. Maybe now that Arsène Wenger is no the longer the coach of the emirate club i may not feel as bad.
Since sir Alex Ferguson retired as the clubs manager in 2013, my favorite teams performance and reputation has plummeted considerably, but that is not sufficient enough to make me replace Man utd with with another team. Also i am not as enamored to the current crop of players as i was with the older players mentioned earlier, nor will i really say that i like the current team manager, José Morinho and his managerial style.
I hope that my favorite teams performance increases considerably in the new season ahead both in the EPL and the UEFA Champions League.
