From Streets to Stages

CHAPTER FIVE

Summer had almost come to an end and the new Premier League season would begin in a fortnight. Theophilus Ochenze had enforced himself as one of Liverpool’s most important squad members as he entered his third year at Anfield. Jose Sepp would certainly be missing his teenage Ghanaian forward as he prepared for a long period of nine matches without his goal machine. Theo had often helped his manager in calming the nerves of the Liverpool hierarchy whenever they got too impatient with the Spaniard. Mr. Sepp wasn’t ready to start doubting his squad anyway as he put his team through intensive training sessions ahead of the commencement of the new season. He had been given the objective of winning a minimum of three trophies by the Anfield hierarchy, a feat he knew he could not perform without having the full backing of his squad.

One player who would definitely be missing those series of intensive workouts ahead of the season was Theo, who was spending the last few weeks of his summer holiday with his wife, Tasha. For the final destination of his long holiday, Theo would be visiting Benin, the capital city of Edo State, Nigeria. Late Mr. Ochenze often told his oldest son lots of amazing stories about Benin City. His favorite of these stories was the one that his father told him about the Ochenze's connection to the throne of the Oba of Benin. The Oba was the man who sat on the throne, protected and guarded the Benin people with his life. Theo would always get confused and ask “Then Papa, why did you reject the opportunity to become Oba?”. His father would chuckle and then reply, “The Benin chiefs said I wasn’t fit to rule an entire empire and so they handed the position to my younger brother”.

Late Mr. Ochenze didn't know how to win in arguments most especially spurious ones and as such he left not just the chance of becoming the traditional ruler of Benin but also moved away from the empire to help him make a new beginning in an entirely different environment. He left with hope that someday, Theo would make a suitable challenge to the throne and return to the royal lineage.

Theo often regarded these stories as mere fantasies, but the trip to Benin would prove a vital chance to find out the truth for himself. Nevertheless, Theo often played down his chances of ruling an empire with such great history. In Nigeria, the Benin people were one of the most influential ethnic groups with very rich culture. Located in Southern Nigeria, the people of Benin boasted some exciting delicacies as well as eye catching apparels which spoke alot about Africa.

His decision was majorly due to the fact that he had become so accustomed to Ghanaian traditions; Even his marriage was conducted in accordance with Ghanaian traditions to a lady from the Western Coast. He knew really little about Benin tradition. Therefore, ruling the people of Benin would remain a dream for him.

After about seven hours on the road, Theo and Tasha arrived in Edo State, Nigeria. They preferred using road networks for their trip to Southern Nigeria to boarding planes which would take them less than an hour from Ghana to Nigeria. They arrived really late at night and concluded that their adventure would begin the following day - the same as Liverpool’s opening fixture to be played against Bournemouth Football Club. The match would be the first of nine matches for which the Merseysiders would be without their talisman - Theophilus Ochenze.

Dawn had finally arrived and Theo was up as early as six in the morning and was really excited about his trip round Benin city. They began their journey almost an hour and a half later as Tasha took lots of time preparing for the trip. They arrived at the gate guarding the city and were permitted to exploare as tourists. The gates guarding the city were associated with many superstitions. The four gates surrounding the area had contemporary Benin masks which were peculiar to the Benin Culture, but the remaining edges of the city were not bounded at all. Legend had it that anyone who tried entering the city without passing any of the gates would be haunted by some supernatural beings who silently guarded the city!

It was Theo’s uncle; who was the one selected to be Oba of Benin ahead of Theo’s father, that acted as a tour guide for the pair as he was able to recognize Theo who looked so much like his late father. They were taken to many interesting sites in the city and Theo started to learn a little more about Benin culture than he used to.

“What about that cave-like structure”, Theo said pointing to a place that appeared to eye as an empty hollow cave.”

“That is strictly out of bound to our tourists.”, Theo’s uncle said.

“No I want to know what’s in there!”, Theo said.

“Goodluck getting past the guards then”, said the Oba.

Tasha even told Theo to forget about going in there, but something just made the cave irresistible to Theo. He walked towards the firm looking guards who reacted by crossing their weapons aginst each other. One of the guards said “You are not allowed to visit these areas.” Theo then looked up, just above the entrance of the cave where his eyes caught a frantic figure - An engravement which was identical to a birthmark he had on his left arm. The birthmark was included in some of the stories he was told by his father, and so he raised his sleeve and showed them the mark and he instantly received access to the cave!

The mark on Theo’s left arm was a royal birthmark usually given to members of the nuclear family of the Oba of Benin. Of course, late Mr. Ochenze had not been an Oba, but he made sure that all his children had the birthmark, subject to the approval of the Benin City elders. Little did he know that such a mark would later become of such significance. He entered into the cave which was lit by traditionally-made torches. He found his way to the heart of the cave which was denoted by an engraving which showed the various generations of heirs to the Oba’s throne. It was during this period that Theo discovered that his father’s fantasies about the throne of the Oba of Benin were not fantasies at all. He saw an engraving of his late father’s picture right next to his grandfather’s. Every form of doubt in his mind about the royal lineage had instantly had instantly vanished.

Theo walked out of the cave looking sober and Tasha ran after Theo asking him what he had seen. Theo hung his head and simply refused to answer any of her questions. Theo then met the Chief Priest in Benin who communicated with the traditional deities that guarded Benin and was also known to provide medicinal relief to the people of Benin with support from the gods. He told the Priest about his injury and its severity. Something strange happened shortly after. The local herbalist looked into Theo’s eyes for about a minute as if to say he knew him before. Tasha waved a hand in his face reminding him why they had come. The herbalist brought out a warm concoction which he had made from some locally obtained leaves. He used it to rub and massage Theo’s right foot afterwhich he felt instant relief. Theo was really greatful and expressed his gratitude by slipping some dollars into the hands of the herbalist who happily received them. Before Theo and Tasha returned to the hotel where they had lodged the previous night, the herbalist gave Theo a bracelet which was made unusually attractive by a glowing gem in its center. Theo smiled as he received the gift and then turned to head to the hotel.

Theo and Tasha were full of mixed emotions as they got news that Liverpool had opened their season with a goalless draw at Anfield against Bournemouth. They would then head to Enugu state in South-Eastern Nigeria where they had already booked a flight back to Merseyside with the Akanu Ibiam International Airport. Theo’s return to full fitness would be extremely vital to not just the ‘Red half’ of Merseyside who needed to bounce back into form ahead of the title-decisive clashes against Tottenham Hotspur and a surprise package Chelsea side; it was alos vital for Theophilus himself who had fallen down the pecking order of most football journalists and analysts. Time definitely would tell if Theo would return to the impressive form which earned him numerous high-profile individual honours.

They arrived at the airport in Enugu, Nigeria in three hours, owing largely to the free flow of traffic and favorable weather. Travelling from onr state to anither in Nigeria had become strenuous due to the poor state of roads and poor management of funds. Theo and his spouse’s early arrival at the center of south-eastern Nigeria might have been regarded as a miracle. They then flew to Liverpool as previously planned and touched down in Merseyside at exactly 18:00 GMT. Their early arrival prompted them to locate Theo’s newly landed property in Liverpool; a stone throw from Liverpool Football Club’s home stadium - Anfield. Minutes after Theo had landed in Merseyside’s international airport, members of the press swarmed round Theo and his wife to ask a lot of questions. Majority of them had questioned Theo on his injury status. The Nigeria-born forward jokingly told them to ask Liverpool’s physios. "I've got nothing to say about that. How about you go ask the physiotherapists at Anfield? Maybe they'll have an answer" He said while smiling.

At the c***k of dawn, Theo took a ride down to Anfield where he met with and exchanged pleasantries with lots of teammates and coaching staff. He also met up with Jose Sepp some minutes later. The Spaniard was extremely joyed to have seen his forward for the first time in over twelve weeks. On first sight, he placed his hands on Theo’s shoulders as he looked straight in his eyes for a number of seconds before he gave him a warm embrace. Prior to Theo’s return to Anfield, he had booked an appointment with his team’s physio to have a look at his injured right foot. After several tests and x-rays had been run, Theo was deemed fit to feature in Liverpool’s upcoming round of games. The test results were actually been claimed to be astonishing by the Liverpool physios who said that no player who had been ruled out for so long had ever returned this early. Of course, Theo kept his recovery a secret from the physios, but the rest of the staff could not hold back their surprise. Some Theo's teammates, on hearing the news called it sorcery!

Meanwhile, Theo’s wife was expected to put to bed later in the week, precisely the day before Theo’s expected return to the pitch against Liverpool's League rivals Tottenham Hotspur. In this light, Theo employed lots of mid-wives to look after his spouse ahead of the expected delivery date - A task which they executed to perfection. Theo had rejoined the rest of teammates at Melwood in training. He was red-hot in training as he completed every single session while retaining one-hundred percent fitness. Their match away at Tottenham Hotspur in the newly opened Tottenham Cottage was one which either side could use in demonstrating intent in a tricky little race and it was scheduled to hold on a Saturday evening.The Tottenham Cottage was located in London and it stood several feet above other buildings in the English capital. Several reports in the press claimed that the Tottenham players were not intimidated by Theo’s early return and would make the most of out of their situation.

News had arrived on Saturday morning that Tasha had put to bed the previous night. She had delivered a bouncing baby boy. Pictures of Theophilus Junior had gone viral on social media and Theo's fans around the globe were more than delighted with the news. The news of his wife’s safe delivery only came as a morale booster for Theo and his teammates. A lot of pressure had been placed on the Liverpool Football Club to make huge impact and mark Theo’s return. This pressure was mainly created by the press. The press had the habit of cooking up stories to spice up English League clashes like this one. The results of matches played earlier in the day meant that Liverpool had the opportunity to climb into the top-six in the league standings with victory in London. Team line-ups and formations had been released prior to the big game and Theo was selected to play as a center-forward to bolster Jose Sepp’s attacking options as failure wasn’t an option in a high-profile clash like this.

Without further ado, the game began and the small fraction of the 60,000 full capacity Tottenham Cottage were Liverpool supporters. Theo had managed just four goals since the start of the new year - his poorest return of form since his career began, but he managed three inside the opening forty five minutes at the cottage. The Reds led by four goals to one as Theo’s teammate - Trent Adams had also gotten on the scoresheet after exchanging passes with Theo. Jose Sepp’s men were in complete control at the break as no side had scored four goals in the first half of a game played away from home in more than a decade. Little did Theo and his teammates know that they were on their way to making history.

Only one change was made as the Spurs manager swapped his goalkeppers at the interval due to unconfirmed claims that he was ill and could not last ninety minutes. Regardless, it only took Theo a record 5.85 seconds to re-open the scoring in the second half. The Liverpool attack was ever-fluid and lightning-quick which gave the opposition absolutely no chance. Only a few minutes later Theo set up another teammate Sydney Walker for Liverpool’s sixth of the night. On the return of play, some lousy defending from the Liverpool defenders gifted the Tottenham players their first corner of the evening. The corner wasa taken with little conviction and was properly dealt with by the Liverpool defence, then they quickly launched a counter attack which consisted majorly of slick one-touch passes and Theo was on the end of it again as he made it seven goals to the good.

The goals kept on coming and before stoppage time, the humiliation of the Spurs players had hit its peak as they surrendered ten goals to one with a few minutes left to play. To wrap up what had been a glorious night for Liverpool, Theo bagged his second hat-trick - a feat that had never been previously achieved; with a stunning 35-yard effort which stood as a firm contender for the goal of the season. That goal had some sort of emotional effect on the fans who burst into the pitch with jubilation to round Theo who held up his two hands pointing to the sky. The stewards had lost control over the crowd and Theo looked as if he had earned himself legendary status at his childhood club.

The match ended 11-1 to Liverpool’s who had put in some monstrous effort at Tottenham Cottage. Many bookmakers regarded the performance as “The eighth wonder of the world”. At the end of the game, Theo was given two balls in regards to both hat-tricks he had scored in the match. He dedicated all six goals to Tasha and their newly born son; It was indeed a well deserved performance for Jose Sepp’s men.

The following morning, most newspapers carried headlines like “Londonian Crucifixion” and “Theo’s Delight ” which spoke volumes of Theo and his teammates conquest in London. It was the biggest win ever recorded in the English Premiership and of course the most goals scored in a match by a team. An indeed pulsating encounter. However, Jose Sepp never hung his head too high in the clouds as he insisted that his team would need to be consistent to pose another title challenge. He said this at a press conference held the next morning where two of Theo’s teammates committed their long term futures to Liverpool by each signing huge five year contracts.