Alert: FIFA Mens U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 [R]

He an U20 player! Not all young players of world class potential start their careers in Barcelona or Arsenal... you can't hold playing for a noname club as VVV against him.

SORRY


never heard of vvv

Very true, unfortunately. This article says Okocha is actually 10 years older than claimed: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/21/nigerian-football-age-old-problem
Now it could be just as hard to prove that.

I'm sure one day there will be a method to scientifically determine the exact age of a person. Until then, the cachirules will be a part of football.

I digress on this. Playing at 16 at top level has happened in much bigger leagues (Gianni Rivera, Maradona...) as long as the talent is there, why can't it happen in the Nigerian league?

But I get it, they have to start lying about their age early on...

Write a dissertation on the guy. This is essential. I'll just YouTube the bro.

With all due respect but that is bull...

I agree he is probably a few years older than he claims but I don't believe he is 10 years older than claimed.

First off: How the hell did he go unnoticed in the footballing world till the age of 26? A player of world class quality magically appears at the age of 26 and was unknown prior to that? Pure nonsense.

Secondly I watched him play at Bolton at the age of 32 and if I am to believe that he was really 42 than Okocha is the greatest athelete in world history... NOT!

Sorry, but it doesn't add up. He was probably 19-20 years old, when he moved to Germany claiming to be 16.

There are MRI scans which can determine the age of players within a 2-3 bracket.

I dunno, the Guardian is pretty reliable on most things, except sports and their awful reviews on music. I wouldn't knock it.

And, on a more serious note there are plenty of players who go unnoticed well into 26, not really that rare of an event.

Read the article. It isn't a claim made by Guardian, but by Nigerian bloggers.

Players do go unnoticed, but having no recollection of Okocha, a world class player, as a player up until being 26 is a bit of a stretch.

Enough off topic though.

That's ok if you call it BS. I find it hard to believe it myself, even if it's the Guardian saying it. As I said, it would be hard to prove him being that old as well.
I'd tend to agree with you on what you said about Okocha, Kanu, etc. Too good too young and then a rapid decline. But they could not have been that much older. Maybe a few years, but not ten.

As for the MRI scanning, unfortunately, it's not accurate enough for FIFA and it's youth tournament regulations. Still, a great step ahead.

Probably further proving my point that the Guardian is unreliable when it comes to sports and music reviews if they are using bloggers for their sources. Haa! And you'd think only the Daily Mail/likes would be sources for awful "insight" journalism. Nigerian bloggers, almost sounds as silly as Nigerian dethroned princes!

no wonder they do good at youth levels!!

hall of shame...