Former Nigeria international Daniel Amokachi has played down comparison between legendary midfielder Austin Okocha and new kid on the block Chidera Ejuke.
The CSKA Moscow forward has been a revelation since breaking into the Eagles, putting in eye-catching displays.
This has led football fans comparing Ejuke with the former Eagles skipper.
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But Amokachi, posited that there is no bases for comparison as there can never be another Okocha.
“We normally have players who play similar like Jay Jay but not Jay Jay, there will never be another Jay Jay because his kind comes once in a life time,” Amokachi said on his radio show ‘The Bull’s Pit’ on Brila FM.
“God doesn’t bring the same people into this world so the legacy of Jay Jay remains his legacy. So you cannot get another Jay Jay, it’s either you get another player who is far better than Jay Jay but you cannot get a player like Jay Jay. He was so good they named him twice.”
Ejuke has scored three goals and provided two assists in 11 appearances in all competitions for CSKA Moscow this season.
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18 Comments
I am on the same page with DaBull. Even all the Edson Arantes do Nascimento aka Pele couldn’t have been compared to Okocha. Okocha happened at the time the football World was too jealous to see any good in a black man. Okocha was football itself, the videos are accessible online and any one with as little as 20mb could see Okocha flicks on YouTube. Since Okocha, the World hasn’t produced a consistent dribbler with that impetus to take on the entire 11 opposing players with ease.
Maybe with time of which I don’t think it’s even possible, Ejuke might. Ejuke has shown some flashes though.
(SURA, for Chief Thomas Adeboye HRH)
I think Nigerians were trying to encourage Ejuke by comparing him to j.jay. Okocha comes only once in a life time.
Many would agree that Okocha is one of, if not the most skillful the world has ever seen.
Okocha didn’t get the recognition he should have received, not because he was a black man, but because of the paucity of end product. Especially earlier on in his career, when he would play to the gallery most of the time.
While Okocha was arguably more skillful than the likes of Pele, Cruyff, Ronaldo da Lima, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Messi, CR7, Ibrahimovic, the big difference was that these other players produced much more on the pitch.
The only player I think was a match for Okocha when it comes to football artistry was Maradona. Between these two, it’s tough to pick who was more skillful.
At the end of the day, football artistry is great to watch, but does not by itself win trophies. This is why Okocha didn’t get the recognition. Okocha won Afcon and Olympic gold, which is great. If he had won, or come close to winning competitions like the champions league and the world cup, the odds would have tilted more in his favour. Maradona was a show-man who produced a lot on the field. Okocha was just as good a show-man as Maradona, maybe even slightly better, but not much end product.
This is the difference.
Ejuke is not as skillful as Okocha, but his dribbling is more direct and more dangerous. While Okocha would tease and humiliate opponents outrageously, Ejuke goes for the jugular. Okocha had a great range of passing. He could hit accurate passes from a long distance, and could provide the final pass. He was also a freekick specialist. Ejuke obviously needs to improve in these other areas.
With more end product, Ejuke could potentially become one of the world’s best.
this my question to amokachi has gotten to this place wow
Goals win trophies.
Rabonas, elasticos, step-overs, drags, scissors, Cruyff turns, roulettes, rainbows, etc. These are lovely to watch and bring great pleasure to the observing crowd. But by themselves, these will not win trophies.
Okocha had all these amazing skills. But it seemed he was content to just show his skills, please the crowd, and tease and humiliate his opponents. If he didn’t score or make an assist, he was content.
Players like Maradona and Ronaldinho also sought to please the crowd and dominate opponents. However, Maradona and Ronaldinho are not content, until they’ve either scored, or made an assist. Maradona and Ronaldinho can dribble everybody on the pitch over and over again, but if there is no goal and/or assist resulting from all the dribbling, they are not content. They will keep pushing until the ball is in the net.
That is the big difference. That is the reason why Okocha didn’t receive the recognition. If Okocha possessed the same hunger for end product as these other great players, I have no doubt that his name would have been mentioned alongside the likes of Pele, Maradona and the other great players today.
Nice one @ Pompeii. I watched this video of Ronaldinho n felt like taking the ball n go start playing all over again. Got possessed by the spirit with which he played. His energy, his passion, his confidence, his creative inking, his happiness, his hunger, his anger etc, just what our players like Iwobi, Ejuke, Wazza Dazzler Chuzzy, Aribo etc should be consuming themselves in n replicating.https://youtu.be/_dBz4dTZocg
Glory, the end result of all the tricks and flicks is for the ball to find a resting place in the net. Without the ball in the net, the show is incomplete. Like food that is not fully cooked. What are you going to do with uncooked food? It’s useless.
Few remember how Okocha was dribbling the Denmark players like small children in the 1998 world cup. What everyone remembers is that Denmark won the match 4-1.
History records goals, assists and trophies.
Okocha realized this late in his career. It was from the year 2000, specifically during the Afcon, that we finally started seeing Okocha take his game to the next level. Before 2000, Okocha would just play to the gallery, and be laughing on the pitch. But from 2000 till he retired, it was business. Both for club and country, Okocha produced his best between 2000 and 2005. And the game changer was that he added end product to his game.
SE does not need an okocha right now…..SE is already a team with quality and balance……All SE needs now is a catalyst…..a play maker…… someone to hold onto the ball and creat spaces for our majorly pacy and talented players to explore…… Someone who can draw opponent to himself and out of position thereby opening up the game for our more talented players to express themselves and make a difference…….We are more talented that the last 5 teams we have played against but we couldn’t express ourselves……..Once the opponent stops your players from expressing themselves then the opponent stands a chance even if the opponent has less talented players…….that is what CAR did to us in the last 2 games…….SE have a very deadly attacking array of players but they are not translating to loads of goals why?…….. because they are been to rigid…… defensive……and shy……..we need to be ruthless and we need to attack relentlessly……and all this needs a catalyst to carry it out……. Someone who can play a free role, roaming the pitch creating spaces for our attacking players to move into…….That is what we need now not okocha……..This new generation SE players are ok in their own right and they are capable…….. Majority of them play at a higher level of football……is like having all the major ingredients needed to cook a delicious soup and remaining only maggi which is needed to make the soup make sense and tasteful.
Amokachi:….. Ejuke Not The New Okocha….. So, why the long letter writing?….you must write a text book to be heard? Truth is shorter ….. Amokachi is of the opinion that there is no basis for comparison because the gap is like from Badagry to Niamey…….. Where is the basis?
I don’t even think Ejuke has been given enough time in the SE and space to show all that he’s capable of.
Okocha, no doubt, is a legend of the game. But if the morning tells the day and this dude is not unlucky with injuries like Joel Obi, then great things lie ahead.
Not sure how many of our players have confidently torn and taken out defences this way to slam the ball into the net This is precocious.
https://youtu.be/kT0iMguwbJo
Incredible goal. The boy has lots of potential. Let’s hope he is injury free.
With hard work and desire, he can achieve a lot in football.
Okay Okocha is really from Ogwashi-Uku area in Delta State Nigeria, which is not regarded as the main, abi?. When are you dropping this your tribal toga? Go for fairness and stop the noise, no one cares. Whether Maradona won the Championship does not whittle Okocha personal dribbling skills which is what Amokachi is talking about. Ejuke is not in the same league with Okocha, cefini.
Let try push for tosin Keyinde of randers fc,he can do the damage for us.
TOSIN KEHINDE, OBINNA NWOBODO, KELECHI NWAKALI, RAPHAEL NWADIKE, ALHASSAN YUSUF, THE GUY IN READING (on loan from Watford), OVIE EJARIA, FAUSTINO ANJORIN ETC
ALL POTENTIAL CENTRAL OR CREATIVE MIDFIELDERS FOR THE SUPER EAGLES
Make I no lie, dis guy get all it takes to be more than jay jay o… Nothing is impossible. Legacies can be surpass in life. He just needs time. Besides with all due respect to the legendary jay jay na around 98 go up na him em mesmerizing skills and all that really mature back then in the 1994 world cup he was just spoiling most of the ball given to him by trying to dribble while holding onto ball for too long and then getting dispossessed. And so most of his team started complaining. But ejuke at this age dribbles and then still keeps possession for the team. Abeg make una give dis guy a break he is just starting.
Who ever is comparing Ejuke to okocha must be high on something. What silly comparison. Watched him play both club and country, am sorry he is nothing to write home about. All those saying he just played to the galore of spectators and never won anything. Didn’t he win the nation’s cup, didn’t he win the olympics. Is he the only player on the field. Even some great players never won anything in there life time. So whoever is thinking Ejuke is like Jay should keep sucking whatever breast is giving them such thinking
The likes of messi, ronaldo at even the start of their career were compared to some great in the past and now look at were they are. Nobody is an authority or God in soccer. Comparison is allowed in football. If you think otherwise, then you must have sniff your neighbor’s pit toilet and then its clouding your reasoning
Is dribbling the only skill in football. A biased black man will always prefer comedy to concrete fulfilment.
Okocha was never a concrete fulfilment. Football needs balanced wheels of goalkeeping defense , attack and goal scoring. A transition between all these is efficiency which was lacking in the Nigerian Idol.
The white man is trained to Respect and promote efficiency and not Comedy!!!