From Streets to Stages

CHAPTER THREE

A dark handsome young man in his late teens, in addition to his numerous achievements at such a tender age in the sport, Theo must have been attractive to any lady. The Ghanaian traditional rulers had the habit of pushing young men into marriages they weren't emotionally ready for. Nevertheless, he was in no hurry to rush into marriage - it was the least thing on his mind. He understood that he still needed to enjoy his teenage-hood without the pressures of a marriage setup, but the elders of Ashanti(the Ghanaian region Theo spent most of his childhood) kept sending their regards, expressing concerns as to when the Nigerian-born ace would be settling down!

Meanwhile, Theo’s set-out deadline for announcing his national allegiance to either of Nigeria and Ghana had arrived. During this period, Theo was involved in an unplanned training session with his Liverpool teammates at Melwood; the teams official training base. This meant that his final decision would be delayed a bit further to the dismay of many journalists and football supporters who were eagerly anticipating Theo’s final decision. Theo’s final decision must have been thoroughly considered judging from the amount of time he had requested to decide. Notwithstanding, the first international break of the season when national teams would get to flag-off preparations towards the global tournament, was fast approaching and Theo would have to make a last minute decision.

The international break soon arrived. Theo stunned most of his followers on the first day of the break as he appeared in training with the Black Stars of Ghana at the Accra Monumental Stadium. This only meant that Theo had announced himself as a member of the Ghanaian national team. As pictures of Theo training with the Black Stars kept circulating on the internet, football fans across the world rained fire and brimstone on the Liverpool striker via his social media accounts. As a matter of fact, top European sports journalists slammed the teenager’s decision, claiming it was ‘irrational’ and ‘totally wrong’. Understandably so, being that Theo’s country of birth-Nigeria, had a better soccer history and an even better head-to-head performance against the Black Stars. On second thought, athletes should be given the right to freely choose their allegiances without the fear of being criticized or attacked. Instead of painstakingly replying all those who wanted his head on social media, Theo kept calm and made no comments, further expressing how matured the Liverpool striker had become.

Theo’s first game in Ghana's bright colours would be against West African neighbours, Benin Republic. For ages, The Ghanaian Football kit did its best to project the African culture. It depicted olden African traditions round a beautifully decorated collar as well as The Black Star emblem which stood out boldly on the crest of The Ghanaian uniform.

On previous occasions. The Black Stars never drew a really large number of spectators, but knowing that the match was set to be a dream debut for Theo, the ever-crazy football fans swarmed into Accra Monumental Stadium, fully equipped to host international guests. For only the first time in five decades since the structure was erected, the stadium recorded full capacity! A ground breaking achievement for the Ghanaian Football Team. One might have wondered how a little teenager drew such a large crowd in only his first international appearance.

Due to the presence of more experienced players in the Ghanaian squad, Theo was handed a more reserved role in the game. At the time Theo was being incorporated into the Black Stars system, veteran players always stole the show on all occasions, but sooner than later, that was bound to change. Both nations had never met on any occasion and had a difference of 17 places in the international rankings - Ghana being the better of the two sides in 29th.

The Ghanaian Head coach - Amartey Mensah, who indeed was privileged to watch his newly selected youngster in training at the Black Stars Football Team training base was also a close friend to Theo’s late father before his demise and he was convinced that young Theophilus had a huge role to play in rewriting all the history books of West African football. The late Mr. Ochenze had planned to leverage on his good relationship with The Ghanaian head coach to help his son with the right start to his football career, but he passed on even before he had the chance.

In a press conference that took place on the eve of Theo’s dream debut, he (Amartey) was quoted as saying,

“I trained this young boy as a six or seven year old and I don’t think things would be any different now”

“He’s a valuable addition to this team due to his versatility and I just have this feeling that he might transform the entire look of football in this country and probably the entire continent”. Concluded the Ex-Ghana International.

Unlike Theo’s manager faraway in Merseyside, The Black Stars head coach named Theo in the starting line-up on his debut game - a feat that had eluded every other teenager in the history of Ghanaian football. This simply demonstrated how much promise was seen in Theo by his manager.

The match began about quarter-of-an-hour behind schedule as the Ghanaian Football Fans did all their best to force themselves into the stadium in Accra despite hinderances they face from match regulatory officers; popularly known as MRO’s.

Theo had some instant impact despite not even covering up to fifty meters on the pitch, his first touch was a short pass to his teammate who retuerned the ball with immediate alacrity to Theo. Theo then danced his way beautifully through the heart of the Benin defence, before cutting the ball back on the edge of the pitch with his left-foot for an alert teammate to tuck the ball home with ease. This fluid football caught the frenzy of the enthusiastic Ghanaian supporters who now expressed their confidence by waving their country's flag with much more boldness.

The football fans who came out in large numbers and held out fliers and banners on which were written ‘Who is this son of Ashanti?' - the Ashantis were more of a vibrant tribe and was the tradition the Ochenzes got accustomed to during their stay in Accra. The Ashantis had never been associated with any well meaning citizens of the country

The Ghanaian football fans were never dull for a moment. Heavily owing to the fact that Theo had scored four more goals to gift the Ghanaian team a commanding five goal lead at the break. Before the game, Ghana had never even won a match with a goal margin of four goals or more, and to have had a lead of five goals at only half time meant a lot to not just the fans but to the entire nation. The manager of the Black Stars then made a decision which was totally uncalled for as he insisted that Theo be brought off at half time! A decision that infuriated many Ghanaian sport journalists, book makers and more importantly the fans.

Theo didn’t make a word about the decision though as he joyfully skipped from the dressing room to the sidelines to watch the second half of the game. The Black Stars survived a major scare though as the Benin Republic team needed just one more goal to draw the match level at full-time. The match finished 5-4 with a second half majorly dominated by incessant Benin counter attacks.

One fact for sure was that in all of Theo’s games, his presence prompted all opponents to defend their goal posts with the last drops of their blood, but whenever he was absent, the opposition were gifted various attacking options. Theo nevertheless, always remained humble and never took all glory to himself. His regular phrase in most press conferences would be ‘How could I have done it without my teammates?’. Perhaps a catchphrase one might have called it, but whatever it was, his humility was completely adored by the press.

The Black Stars had come to the end of their strenuous international break schedule and Theo felt like he needed to freshen up before heading back to Merseyside to resume training with his Liverpool teammates. One of Theo’s closest friends in the Black Stars squad whose name was Bassagog, informed Theo that the Black Stars team would be meeting at a hotel in Southern Accra to ‘cool off’ before they headed back to their respective clubs. Bassagog, a 27-year old who was in the prime of his career was never really into partying and other forms of social events. So the fact that he wanted to be a part of the get together might have attracted Theo.

He saw this as a good opportunity for him to relax, and there wasn't a better way to do such than with this teammates, after contributing 17 goals and 6 assists in five appearances. He instantly accepted the offer and the players met as agreed in Rafiki Continental Hotel in Accra; one of Ghana's best and most luxurious crafted on the suburbs of The Ghana capital.

As a means of honouring the Black Stars squad for their excellent performance over the past month, the Hotel hosted Theo and his teammates for free, to the delight of the entire team. Theo was offered several bottles of alcoholic drinks which he had never tasted his entire life and he had no intention of even taking them now. But the prospect of being called ‘a weakling’ or a 'virgin' by his teammates was another thing he wanted to avoid. He thought within himself ‘Just a bottle wouldn’t hurt’. Theo eventually gave in to the peer pressure and decideed to take alcohol along with his mates. He became really drunk and even found it difficult to maintain balance while in motion. In order to avoid any casualties over the night, the hotel decided to lodge all the players at the hotel, giving them separate rooms to stay until dawn. That very night it was found out that Theophilus had slept with one of the room attendants, who had only come to deliver some information about the hotel’s services. The room attendant showed little or no resistance as she saw that having Theo get her pregnant would earn her a lot of money for damages if she claimed that she was r***d.

It was dawn, and Theo; whose memory about the atrocity he had committed the previous night was very much blank, decided to make his way down to the airport where he had previously booked a flight a couple of days ago. On his way down the alley, The hotel room attendant whom he had slept with under the influence of alcohol, dragged his yellow designers T-shirt and decided to create a scene by making loud shouts of ‘r**e! r**e!’ The security officials who were never far from the scene, rushed out and held the attendant so she would not harm Theo on his way out of the hotel.

Theo decided to play along and he gradually found his way out of the lobby and into his car which was parked along the street where the hotel was located. Within 15 minutes Theo had arrived at the airport where he was swarmed by a significant number of crazy football fans who either wanted a picture or an autograph. Security officials came to Theo’s rescue as they restored parity up until the period when Theo was able to make his way to the processing rooms before boarding his plane which was to return him to Merseyside.

After about eight to nine hours in the air, the reigning ‘Young talent of The year’ award winner had touched down in Merseyside. The Ghanaian international did not choose to rest with the remainder of the day as was the common habit of most travelers around the globe. Instead he took to the pitch to train individually and regain game fitness, which talked a lot about how much of a hardworking player he was. The English summit would resume only five days after Theo had returned to Liverepool.

One peculiar thing about Theo, was that in every game he played, he wore an armband on which a miniature version of his late father’s portrait was drawn. The armband was specially customized by his mother. It was his way of fufilling his late father’s second wish of ‘carrying him to every stadium of the world’, The first becoming a Liverpool player. Some say the armband was a charm that gave him good luck all the time!

The FIFA World cup was to hold at the end of the sesason, which was around 6 months away. It had always been a childhood dream for not just Theo but for every other soccer player to lift the world cup trophy. His native Ghana, were all but assured of World cup qualification having put in brilliant performances in the preliminary rounds, but this time, world heavyweights such as France, Germany, Belgium, Argentina and even African neighbours Nigeria were all in contention; All of which had outstanding performances at the global showpiece in years past.

Theo knew that taking his country, who were now ranked 18th in the world’s Latest FIFA rankings all the way to the final would be a pulsating task. Apperaing in the world cup alone was a dynamic experience for a child who had just completed his secondary education a little below two years ago, although he would turn a year older before the tournament would hit full gear.

The Ghanaian Football Association meanwhile, had announced that the Black Stars would host two other friendlies in Accra, at the final international break before the World Cup in the summer. One of the friendlies to be hosted had the opponents already confirmed, while the other were still being considered. The first confirmed friendly was to take place against Theo’s country of birth - Nigeria! Theo wasn’t too happy at the decision and wasn’t sure he wanted to feature against the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Howbeit, the decision had already been made and the fixture had promised to be exciting, despite only being a friendly game.

It was matchday in the English Premier League and what made this particular one a special one was the fact that it was the very first match of the year. The opening Matchday of the year was often a chance for clubs to show some intent in their respective quests for glory. Liverpool were to face another resilient contender for the Premier League title and of course a very familiar foe- Manchester City. Having won all four competitions the previous season, Liverpool were unbeaten in over a year, dating back to Theo’s spectacular debut appearances during his first season for the Reds. They had only dropped points on five occasions in which the drew, 0-0, 1-1, 0-0, 2-2, and 5-5 respectively agaimst different oppositions - all of which Theo did not feature. This made the Reds one of the most formidable forces in European football, greatly owing to Theo’s contributionof 68 goals and 44 assists in all competitons for Liverpool over the past one-and-a-half years; The winger was absolutely flying! Matching up with Manchester City - a team which were also unbeaten that season, was set to be a mind-blowing encounter as neither side wanted to lose ground in the race for the title.

The Liverpool manager who was in charge at Anfield for a record -extending sixth straight season, continued his usual habit of starting Theo from the bench on important occasions. The match began at the partly filled 49,500-capacity Anfield stadium under slightly favourable weather conditions for either side. Many bookmakers had dropped predictions that Liverpool would sweep away the blue half of Manchester. At half-time, the game was still a stern contest after both sides had scored twice, to leave the game at 2-2 in a pulsating end-to-end encounter. Without hesitation, Theophilus Ocehnze was brought on at the start of the second half. Theo who had become a regular game-changer from the bench changed the game negatively rather than positively as he scored a silly own-goal while retreating backwards to defend his goal. This sounded really strange, as Theo had never before in his career scored an own-goal.

Theo simply smiled to the admiration of the Anfield crowd who also understood that the game wasn’t over. A few moments later, Theo was tripped in the opponents 18-yard area. This meant that the team of the impeded player would be handed a penalty kick. Theo’s captain had gotten a firm grip on the ball insisting he would be taking the spot-kick, but the energetic Theo insisted that he wanted to take the penalty to redeem himself of his earlier mistake -understandably so, being that he had won the penalty for his side. His captain reluctantly agreed to let the teenager take the spot-kick. He had no ideas he would regret his decision to do so, as Theo bolted his shot into the Merseyside sky. The fans, his teammates and his tensed manager were all frustrated and heavily disappointed. The Reds could have earned a point, but instead gifted City all three. The result meant that ‘the Cityzens’ as they were fondly called now had an advantage in the title race.

As Theo walked off the pitch alongside his teammates, chants could be heard all around the stadium which said ‘Theo is human! Theo is human!!’. Liverpool knew they had to come back stronger.