From Streets to Stages

CHAPTER FOUR

Theo was really shocked at his terrible performance in such an all-important game. His low confidence following the dissapointing game was what was more disturbing. He was even more shocked at the reactions of some Liverpool supporters. The Anfield faithful booed him and his teammates as they walked off the pitch. The pressure on his shoulders continued to rise when he found out social media was full of derogatory comments about him. The Liverpool fans had gotten used to winning matches every weekend!

To an understanding few, it was a sign that Theo was a mortal and could err at any point in time. Theo’s manager - Jose Sepp; who understood what the teenager had done for Liverpool since his arrival called for calm and appealed to the Anfield faithful to be patient with Theo, insisting that his young g*n would re-ignite soon enough. "Now is the time he needs us more than ever" He said.

Theo's teammates including his captain who allowed him take the penalty at Anfield all showed solidarity as they made calls for support, backing the 18-year old and urging him to come back stronger. However, Theo simply remained silent through all the controversies. He did have some words with the press on the conclusion of the game. One of the journalists asked,

“We’ve already gotten lots of ripple effects from your poor return at Anfield today. Any reactions to this?”.

“Well, the mocking, the chants and all the terrible remarks I’ve gotten don’t discourage me. They only serve as a drive and motivation to help me play even better”, he answered.

Of course, Theo would go on to make an impressive return in his next game between his club and Portsmouth. He bagged a hat-trick along with two assists in his next game to take his goal-tally for the season to 24 goals, ultimately silencing the critics. At this point, Theo had become the youngest player to hit a 100-goal involvements in the English Premiership - the latest record to be smashed by the flying teenager.

It seemed like the remainder of the season had gone wrong for Theophilus. He had bagged 24 goals in 20 appearances for the Reds, but only had a return of just 2 goals and 5 assists in the final 18 games of the season which by all standards was a very poor run of form. However, he finished as the league’s top scorer for a second straight season. Many football pundits and bookmakers weren’t happy with the pacy winger’s performances, saying they had expected more from him.

Deep down, Theo knew he underperformed that season but made no mention about it. He refused to attend any press conferences for a very long while and simply insisted that his focus had now turned to Ghana. Liverpool missed out on the ‘Premier League’ that season as well as the Champions League and the Football Association Cup which many attributed to Theo’s dip in form. Their only taste of silverware was in the League Cup where they knocked out eventual Premier League winners - Manchester City, in the finals.

Theo’s birthday had arrived and the Ghanaian international’s fans had lots of warm messages for their ever-smiling superstar. The citizens of Ghana didn't worry about Theo's decline in performance towards the end of the previous season because regardless of whatever happened, the lad had done his nation proud already.

The Ghanaian Football Federation, the English Football Association and the United European Football Association all had nice birthday messages for the exciting teenager who had now turned 19. Theo had returned to his home land to link up with his teammates ahead of their preparations for the FIFA World Cup. His teammates hosted a surprise birthday party for Theo at the teams training base. Many commended the prolific striker for what he had achieved at such a young age. Theo donated half-a-million dollars to his orphanage and decided to spend the remainder of the day with his mother and his siblings. At the time, his younger brother was now a student of the University of Mzambi - one of the top universities in all of Ghana. His tuition fees were now being paid by Theo. The news that his older brother would be in town made him skip lectures for the day just so he could spend time with Theo

All seemed to be going well on Theo’s special day until CCTV video clips from the hotel where Theo had forcefully slept with a hotel-room attendant a couple of months ago emerged on social media and soon went viral. The social media drive was initiated by the young lady whom Theo had slept with who went by the name; Tasha Kwadwo. Tasha made her claims on the internet and promised to go to any length to ensure that justice was served. Many of Theo’s fans and supporters were shocked as to how a young man whom they had known to be of good and noble character committed such an atrocity. Many West African traditions started that once a man had seen a woman’s nakedness, he would have to get married to the woman as soon as possible. However, in Theo’s case, Tasha’s claims had to be validated by a competent law court before any talks about marriage would be held and the chances Theo being on the wrong end of the judge's verdict were really high since video evidence had emerged.

It took around two weeks before a final judgement could be made. The final judgement was to be taken on the same day as the first of Ghana’s preparatory friendlies before the global tournament. He would only be available to face his country of birth, Nigeria. With fingers crossed, Theophilus and his numerous associates who stood by him throughout the lengthy trials awaited the final verdict of the chief judge. All Theo’s efforts to avoid getting into a teenage marriage were drowned when the chief judge found Theo guilty of the claims. Being that Tasha had already been 6-months pregnant, the judge’s verdict was for Theo to pay Tasha’s parents an amount worth about a thousand US dollars which was quite unfair and irrational. The Ghanaian traditions however insisted that Theo would tie the knots with Tasha as soon as possible!

Theo was in an absolute cameo and he became so frustrated. He was in a state of emotional instability over the next couple of days. Perhaps he might have not been in the mess he had found himself in, if he had resisted the pressure from his mates at the hotel a few months back. He wished he could go back in time and rewrite the roll of events of that very day, but he simply couldn’t. What bothered him even more was the fact that he would be getting married to a lady whom he knew absolutely nothing about. To think that he would become a father at the age of nineteen was even worse.

This was indeed one trouble Theo couldn’t wriggle out of. The issue dented his personality because many had not expected such from the promising youngster. Due to this spate of activities, Theo had lost a large amount of his social media followership. However, with the FIFA World Cup coming up in a few weeks, Theo had to pull himself together and get his groove back on as he prepared to lead his side to their very first World Cup campaign in over two decades. Even more importantly, Theo had limited time to recover emotionally from the preceding verdicts of the court case as he was selected to start against his former country - Nigeria; although he hadn’t made any international appearance for the Super Eagles in the past.

The match would take place in hostile territory for Theo, as he was set to play in the very first stadium where he played competitive football as a kid - The Nest of Champions located in Southern Nigeria. Theo moved to Accra with his family at the age of five, but before then he had already discovered his undying passion for soccer. He played on a local Under-7 team in Benin City where he first learnt how to play football proffesionally. The team normally went for summer camps at the finely-built Nest of Champions which is located in modern day Akwa Ibom.

The game against Nigeria was scheduled to take place by 5pm local time. It was a match which was set to have lots of crunch competition and high emotions as neither side was set to take the game for granted depite the fact that it was a friendly game. Theo’s mother, who now ran a daily morning female chat-show named ‘Her View’, which was broadcasted mainly for West African nations, had something to say about the game as well. Mrs. Ochenze labelled the game ‘a blockbuster’, and said she expected nothing short of drama and lots of crazy moments.

Her predictions couldn’t have been more accurate as the first carzy moment of the clash occurred when the full capacity 45,000 Nest of Champions booed Theo as he made his way to the pitch along with the rest of his teammates. The coach of the Black Stars made an estranged decision as he made 19-year old Theo the captain of his young Ghanaian side for their stern test against Nigeria. Understandably so, being that he had earned most caps (International appearances) amongst all his teammates on the pitch that night. Many felt it was too early to slap the captain’s arm band on Theo, but the manager defended his decision in another pre-match conference held at the Nest of Champions just before the game.

“…..The lad is in great shape and I think the experience he has gained over the past year would provide enough leadership to sail our team to victory”, the coach said.

The game became started not a minute later than planned and became really violent as time passed. Before the end of the first half two players had been sent off from either team. The referee also showed seven yellow cards during the first half, but the scores were still levelled at one goal a piece at the break. Theo set-up one of his teammates for the opening goal of the game before Daniel Chukwueze; the reigning Nigerian Footballer of the Year cancelled out Ghana’s early opener with a stunning half-volley from 21 yards out. The two teams had different team talks at half-time in the dressing room. The Ghanaian manager; who didn’t take the game lightly despite the fact that it was a friendly match, ordered Theo to move into a top-striker role which was a lot more advanced and very much different from the wing-forward role he had played for a major part of his career.

The second half began without much ado, and Theo did well to adapt properly to his new role as he notched up a sensational finish which appeared to be similar to the very first professional goal of his career which he scored against Everton. He was booed for the second time of the day by the Nigerian fans who even expressed their anger by targeting bottles and stones at the one-time Champions League winner, but Theo only expressed his delight by raising his number 10 jersey up in the sky, precisely in the stand where his wife-to-be, Tasha was seated. The game continued nicely for the Ghanaians who recorded seven additional shots on target - three of which were made by Theo, until midway through the half when the spotlight shifted yet again to Daniel Chukwueze, when the in-form Real Madrid FC forward tapped in from close range to bring the Super Eagles back on level terms for the second time in the game.

The game was set to record a tense finish as two more players got sent off yet again, one from both sides. This reduced the players on the pitch to just 18 players. The players from both teams refused to acknowledge the fact that the game was just a friendly match, at least not in the way they played. Theo may just have been the player who made the game a must win for both teams, as his decision to overlook his country of birth to play for Ghana infuriated numerous Super Eagle fans and even some of the players.

The final few minutes of the game came and neither side wanted to lose ground in the game in order to have bragging rights against their opponents. Suddenly, the Ghanaians started to break forward with a delightful counter attacking move which had all the fire-power required to ultimately win the game for Ghana. After a series of sensational one-touch passes, the ball fell in the path of Theo, who was on the verge of securing national greatness if he made a calm and composed finsish, although he had to face off two retreating defenders from the opposition. As he attempted to take the shot to seal the game for his team, one of the Nigerian defenders made a dangerous tackle on Theo which left the one-time champion league winner in tears.

Nigeria had sealed a valuable draw at home to the Black Stars. The referee’s decision to signal play-on left many confused. The Nigerian defender’s harsh tackle on Theo ultimately led to the teenager being brought off with only seconds left to play. A medical diagnosis was conducted on Theo’s right foot to ascertain the degree of his injury. It was found out that Theo had ruptured an essential compartment of his anterior cruciate ligament as well as suffering an intense knock on his knee. The brutal tackle also left a scar just above Theo’s calf. Such an injury should not have come upon Theo who was looking to fire on all cylinders in his country’s return to the global stage, but as fate would have it, Theo’s chances of becoming a national hero would have to be delayed being that his injury would rule him out for six months.

Theo’s injury came as really disheartening news for the entire Black Stars fanship. Sports journalists made analysis and concluded that Theo would be out for at least five months, missing Liverpool’first nine fixtures for the new season. It would be a really testing season for Jose Sepp, who was limited to purchasing just one player in the transfer market. The news that his key man had come off injured, further narrowed down his options. More importantly the Black Stars needed more courage to face the world without their star man.

Theo’s wedding with Tasha was now slated to hold in early July - the exact same day of the month as Ghana’s final game in the World Cup group stages. The international tournament was holding in Austria, millions of miles from Accra, Ghana where Theo would be settling down in alignment with the Ghanaian traditions. Theo who was initially reluctant about getting married to Tasha, later found a way of connecting with her. He insisted that destiny had deemed it fit for the pair to eventually tie the knots and that she had become his responsibility. Tasha, a girl who was also in her late teens, was a light-skinned and beautiful young lady whom Theo had gotten to know better some weeks after the court ruling was passed.

Meanwhile, back in Austria, Ghana’s world cup campaign had swung from bad to worse. Their first set of games in the group of death was against world superpowers Germany and France. As expected both matches ended in disasters as they only managed four shots on target, without any goals and no point after their first two matches. Five players had also sustained fatal injuries during that period and so, their final group game against lowly Belarus, was a mere formality since their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages had been shattered. Ghana’s disappointing performances on the global stage had triggered lots of negative reactions from their home land. Social media users slammed the Black Stars team in Austria saying their performances were terrible and disgusting. Meanwhile back in Accra, Theo threw his weight behind the Ghanaian Football Team, defending them every step of the way. He went as far as speaking on behalf of the entire team to the press and defending their image on all social media platforms.

For several years, Theo had established himself as one of the very few sportpersons who were known to be outspoken in nature. That was surely a trait which he most likely inherited from his late father who was known for his usual act of criticizing West African governmental policies and structures which didn’t favour the majority. Despite the fact that he wasn’t a politician or political activist, he was loud at criticizing unfavourable laws passed by the government. Theo’s encouragements served as a moral booster for his counterparts at the global showpiece as they scored twice in a credible two-all draw in their final group game against Belarus. Theo who got married to his bride on the same day was so keen on supporting his nation’s side that he insisted there would be ‘no reception’ on the day of the occasion; a part of white weddings normally considered to be important in Western Africa, as doing so would mean missing out on live-streaming Ghana’s final World Cup fixture.

The World Cup was eventually won by defending Champions Germany, who had qualified for the knockout stages of the global showpiece frim the same group as Ghana. Ghana’s global soccer rankings took an immediate dip as they slipped several spots into 45th. The Ghanaian football federation had to return to the drawing boards to set even greater standards in upcoming tournaments. Their next international tournament was the African Cup of Nations, more preferably known as AFCON. Would the Black Stars bounce back from their recent woes? Time would certainly tell.