Nigeria’s national team once boasts of seasoned free kick takers, amongst whom are Christian Chukwu, Sylvanus Okpala, late Stephen Keshi, Austin Okocha to name but a few. Of late hardly can the Super Eagles score through a set piece. Franco-Nigerian Michael Olise, indeed gave Nigeria soccer fans a dose of what they are missing in him as his dead ball with a minute to go gave Crystal Palace a valuable point in the Premier League
With just a minute to full time in the Premier League encounter between Crystal Palace and Manchester United on Wednesday night, and the Red Devils’ goalkeeper catching everything thrown at him by the Eagles, Old Trafford faithful were already seeing the game as another three points in the kitty but Michael Olise had other ideas.
He stood over a late free kick and curled the ball to a tight angle of the post beyond the reach of the goalkeeper to throw the Selhurst Pak Stadium in wild jubilation and the travelling United fans in agony.
Ipswich Town legend Matt Holland has indeed hailed the quality of the goal scored by Olise against Manchester United.
The Red Devils had gone ahead and seemed to be running away with a win which could have taken them above rivals, Manchester City in the league table, but Olise produced a moment of magic to deny Erik ten Hag’s men.
The player, who is eligible to represent Nigeria through his father, delivered a fantastic free-kick in stoppage time that David de Gea could not stop.
“It’s a moment of genuine quality from Olise. They (Palace) have been much better in the second half and they caught United on the back foot.
“But they haven’t created too much. And it’s taken something really special to beat De Gea. From a free-kick into injury time, Palace are level,” Holland, who was on commentary duties for the Premier League world feed, said on air.
On his appointment as national team interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen alongside Emmanuel Amuneke took a trip to the United Kingdom to convince Olise to dump the country of his birth for fatherland.
Olise had played for France at the U-18, but in continuation of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ‘VIP Scouting’, the Crystal Palace forward was being wooed to play for Nigeria at the senior level, culminating to the then Super Eagles interim technical adviser, Eguavoen and his assistant, Amuneke to embark on a trip to United Kingdom to convince the player to switch nationality.
Olise was born in England to a Nigerian father and French-Algerian mother, and he is eligible to represent France, Algeria, England, or Nigeria.
The 20-year-old has represented France at the youth level in the past, after he made his debut in 2019, against Qatar U-23 and was also called up to the France U-18 squad for the 2019 Toulon.
According to source, Eguavoen had met with UK-based Nigerian David Doherty, ahead of the botched World Cup qualifiers playoff game against Ghana in March 2022.
Doherty played a role in Ola Aina’s decision to switch allegiance to Nigeria, he also brought Ebere Eze to the Super Eagles training camp in London in 2017.
He is said to still be very close to Eze, who in turn is a very close friend of Olise.
Erstwhile NFF President, Amaju Pinnick never hid his resolve at ensuring that youngsters of Nigerian origin who are doing well in England and other leagues wore the Nigerian colours at the appropriate time. He said it was in the plans of his administration to build a young Super Eagles team ahead of the 2022 World Cup, (which Nigeria failed to qualify).
“What we are trying to do is what we call VIP scouting – talking to these young players that are playing abroad to play for their fatherland. No Nigerian, even if they have four or five passports, they are always excited being Nigerians. I can assure you that we shall get them to play for us at appropriate time,” Pinnick had said.
Despite joining Crystal Palace in the summer of 2021 with a broadened horizon, having won Championship Young Player of the Year the season before, there was still a moment of hesitation among the Palace fans over how quickly Olise would adapt to Premier League standards.
Turning defences inside out, conjuring a pantheon of tantalising crosses into the box, and getting Selhurst Park off their seats-Olise is the real deal, and he has proven to be the fulcrum of Patrick Viera’s youthful revolution.
Olise’s £8 million arrival to South London from Reading in July 2021 was Vieira’s first acquisition since being appointed head coach, and it kick started a dramatic shift in the club’s transfer policy.
Starting the season on the backfoot could have hindered the youngster’s opportunity to get first-team football, but the injury he suffered seemed to do nothing but add further determination to the maquillage of Olise. He showed straight away that he was comfortable in the presence of giants. How well the NFF officials would be able to convince Olise to star for Nigeria remains to be seen as Algeria Desert Foxes are also said to be on his trail
