Super Falconets’ star, Uchechi Sunday, has expressed delight over her classy brace against New Zealand at the ongoing FIFA U-20 Women World Cup, claiming she is a specialist at scoring goals.
Sunday explained this in an interview with FIFA.com after the final whistle of the match in which she made an instant impact.
“I scored with my very first touch,” said the bubbly striker. “That’s football, though, isn’t it? Sometimes you play well and things don’t work out. But today I went out there and found the back of the net straightaway.”
Sunday did not finish there either.
With the game moving into stoppage time, she struck again to complete a 4-1 win for Nigeria, who will now meet Korea DPR in the semi-finals.
Sunday’s brace showcased her innate finishing skills.
Firing into the roof of the net from a corner to open her account, she then used her pace to score her second, bursting into the box with the ball at her feet, powering past a Kiwi defender and clipping the ball neatly over the keeper.
She added: “I suppose you could say I’m a goal specialist. I just try to get in the area so I can round moves off by putting the ball in the back of the net. That’s what I’m there for.”
This is not the first time Sunday has jumped off the bench to steal the show, as Sierra Leone’s U-20 side can confirm.
Taking up the story, the smiling Sunday said: “We played them during the qualifiers for the World Cup and I came on in the second half in that game too. By the end of it, I’d scored five goals.”
She finished the Canada 2014 qualifying competition as her side’s leading scorer with 10 goals, nearly a third of the 31 they amassed in total, a figure made all the more impressive by the fact they did not concede once.
The striker has yet to start a game at the finals, however, and has found it hard so far to keep her nerves under control.
She said: “It’s impossible not to be nervous when you’re on the bench! It’s far worse than starting because you want to get out there and help your teammates. And when they make a mistake you think: ‘Ahhhh. I would have done it this way or that way’. Sometimes, though, you just have to sit there and watch and cheer them on.”
After her rapid double against New Zealand, is there a chance that Coach Peter Dedevbo might be tempted to give her a start against the North Koreans?
Pondering that question, Sunday replied: “I’m dreaming about that semi-final. I don’t know if I’ll start the game – that’s up to the coach – but I do know that no matter who plays, they will have to give their all because we want to be in the final.”
With that final falling on another Sunday, it is understandable why Nigeria’s super Sunday wants to be a part of it.
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