Izuchukwu OkosiEngland international of Nigeria descent, Bukayo Saka, made the list of 11 players named by football statistical website, Whoscored.com, in its ‘FIFA World Cup U-23 Best Eleven’, Prime Business Africa reports.
Saka scored three goals at the World Cup, although the ‘Three Lions’ ultimately exited the tournament in the quarterfinals stage after they were defeated 2-1 by France.
Saka became the only Anglo-Nigerian to make Gareth Southgate’s side to Qatar 2022, as the duo of Tammy Abraham (AS Roma) and Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan) were dropped. Also dropped was Eberechi Eze, who has not played for England but was in the England’s 55-man provisional squad.
Other notable youngsters that made the cut include Saka’s England international team mate, Jude Bellingham, Brazil’s Vinicious Jnr, Ghana’s Mohamed Kudus, Netherlands’ Gody Gakpo, Ibrahima Konate, Alphonso Davis and Bayern Munich’s Diego Dalot, as well as Germany’s Jamal Musiala, who has Nigerian origin.
Ajax and Ghana’s Kudus scored a brace against South Korea to become the first Ghanaian player to score two goals in a World Cup game.
Incidentally, most of the players that made the cut in Whoscored were not able to advance in the tournament with their teams after getting eliminated at different stages.
Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez was selected by the FIFA Technical Study Group, which Nigeria’s France 98 World Cup star, Sunday Oliseh, was part of.
The Group is made up of legends of the game, mostly those that have featured at the World Cup for their countries.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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