From Streets to Stages

CHAPTER SEVEN

A night he had dreaded for so long, Theo had come to realize that a man doesn't conquer his fears by running from them, but rather gains even greater experience from challenging them in the face. He grabbed some confidence from his latest Anfield exploit and later he confirmed that he would be joining the rest of the U-21 team for the FIFA Global U-21 tournament to be hosted in Nigeria. The tournament was to hold just before winter and Theo would miss Liverpool's opening two UEFA Champions League clashes provided he made it to the finals of the U-21 tournament.

The U-21 tournament was known for discovering new and projecting fresh new talents. However, a player of Theo's class, quality and finesse needed no discovery or projection after establishing himself as the world's most valuable sporting asset. Theo won ambassadorial deals and advertising contracts with notable companies and organizations across the globe. The most formidable of those was his selection as the face of FIFA's fair play project launched across 176 countries. Despite earning around £15 million per annum, Theo was never quick to forget his humble beginnings; when he couldn't afford three-square meals or fund his own basic education. As a result he launched poverty eradication programs starting from his native Accra, Ghana to several parts of Africa.

The U-21 World Cup began after much anticipation. The World governing football body FIFA held enlightenment programmes before the commencement of the tournament to enlighten all partakers in the competition. 'The Dark Phoenix' was the name given to the Ghana U-21 team. The Ghanaians who were initially reluctant about booking flights to Nigeria to watch the Dark Phoenix play, but as announcements that Theophilus Ochenze would be taking part in the tournament went viral, the tickets for all Ghana's group games were sold out in record time. The crazy fans would do absolutely anything to see Theo play live.

Ghana would face the Three Lions of England in their opening game and would go on to face Mexico and Australia in the first group of the tournament. Theo met the rest of the team at the Eko Hotel and Suites; a widely known hotel and events centre in Lagos. The team had previously agreed to meet there. The opening game was played really early and it ended in a one-all stalemate between the Mexicans and the Australians. This could only mean that victory over their English counterparts would mean the Phoenix would top the group and show some early intent.

The rest of the team had arrived and fully settled down. Arrival of food supplies were delayed due to some inconveniences, but, Theo had that sorted and treated his teammates to a deliciously locally-prepared meal of Banga soup and starch - a delicacy which he enjoyed regularly as a kid. He footed all the bills in order to keep the entire camp in good spirits for the game against the Europeans.

It was matchday and Theo was selected in the starting lineup after passing a late fitness test the previous night. Bukayo Baku, one of Ghana's hottest sensations got the only goal of a game that lacked the intensity and firepower it really needed. Other African Nations had come through with rather convincing victories. Senagal, Kenya and Sao Tome and Principe all recorded high margin victories on the opening matchday. The Dark Phoenix technical adviser had drafted a 3-5-2 formation - It consisted of three dynamic central defenders playing behind a five-man midfield which had the duty of assisting a pair of attackers. Using such game plans meant that Theo would play a more withdrawn role. The Liverpool forward intentionally made that request in order to keep him fit for the remainder of the Liverpool's champions league campaign.

Ghana sealed qualification and top-spot in the group despite Theo and some other keynote players not registering any appearances in the final two group games. Reports suggested that Theo had gone for a more tactical advisory role in the Ghana U-21 camp; sharing his experience to improve the Dark Phoenix performance. They faced a fiery German side in the quarter finals of the competition.

Theo featured in the quarter final match against Germany but it wasn't enough to push their ambition further as they crashed out following a dreadful four goal defeat to the 'Die Mannschraft' of Germany.

Theo played from the first minute to the very last but his performance just seemed to be lackluster. An incident occurred though; the Teslim Balogun stadium which was majorly filled with Nigerian indigenes appeared to have targeted racist chants at Theophilus. They made monkey sounds whenever the Liverpool forward was on the ball and he wasn't happy about it. In an expression of his anger, he made a middle-finger gesture at a row of Nigerians seated at the stadium at the end of the game. They then reacted by targeting bottles, papers and other items at him. With the turn of events, the Nigerian Football federation were fined a sum of $3 million for the incident. The football governing body even promised to take even stricter measures with new discoveries of the incident.

The entire Dark Phoenix team faced heavy criticism and Theo wasn't left out of the rain of fire. Having previously won the Young Player of the year award in his breakthrough season the only thing missing in Theo's career was the Ballon D'or, which was regarded as the highest individual honor in the world of soccer. He had dreamed of it all the years he spent playing soccer on the streets of a Accra. Winning the U-21 tournament hosted in Lagos, Nigeria would have been a great way to wrap-up his credentials towards getting the top gong, but those hopes had now faded away. His next chance for international glory was in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) which was still far away.

Recall that Theophilus Ochenze joined Liverpool amidst other lucrative offers from top-notch figures in European football at the moment. Theo rejected all those offers, after which it was announced that he had joined the Reds on a four-year deal. Now, he was in the third year of his contract and Liverpool FC didn't want to hear any renewal talks from Theo's agent - Joachim Lopez. Surprised at such news, Theo became depressed and began to have second thoughts about his stay at Anfield. Mr Joachim did speak to him over the phone, telling him to be calm, insisting he could influence the Liverpool board easily.

Before Theo returned to Merseyside to continue the league season, he visited some of his orphanage homes and awarded scholarships to some kids and teenagers alike. During his stay he opened more philanthropic projects in his push to eradicate poverty completely from West Africa. He also paid a visit to his two siblings and his mother who were all doing fine. Theo's siblings; Gabriella and Jordan were students of the University of Mzambi while Theo's mother had become an on-air personality. Mrs. Ochenze was best known for her female chat-show "Her View" created to dissect trending topics from the female perspective. Seeing the rest of his family all doing well gave him great joy and always made him focus even better on his career. Theo then flew back to Merseyside to resume good club football.

Liverpool FC had done tremendously well in Theo's absence-recording five wins out of five in the absence of the Ghanaian. They sat comfortably at the top of the UEFA Champions League group standings. Theo's next chance to feature for Liverpool was a weekend league encounter away at a lowly Sunderland side; a chance for Liverpool to further strengthen their grip on top spot and the chance for Theo to regain his early-season form. Theo spent hours performing extra training routines to get back to full fitness. He also wanted to give the Liverpool board numerous reasons to renew his contract.

"Sunderland shouldn't pose a really stern test for us despite playing on different ground" said the Liverpool captain in a press conference ahead of the fixture.

Matchday had arrived and lineups were released an hour prior to kickoff. The biggest shock of the day was Theo's omission from the starting lineup. Jose Sepp later revealed that the decision was taken because Theo had just returned from international duty and rushing him straight back into the action wasn't the best option. He was however listed on the bench to probably come on as a substitute later on. The match began without much hesitation and the sun was out but the weather conditions were just right for a game of football at sunderland's 30,000 capacity Stadium of Light. Liverpool rushed into a 3-goal lead at halftime.

Many fans expected to see Theo come on later on but Jose Sepp ignored the Ghana International whenever he looked to the bench to make a substitution. The match finished 5-1 in favour of the Reds in a game that probably shown Theo was out of favour from the Liverpool board! More importantly contract renewal talks weren't going well and time was indeed running out. Clubs who are normally interested in retaining players normally renew contracts eighteen to twenty months before its formal expiration. Had Theo's reign at Anfield come to an end?

Having endured a disappointing match day, Theo return to his base in Merseyside to join his newly beginning family. The turn of events had just become too intense for the young lad to handle; becoming a teenage father, missing out on his maiden World Cup appearance, facing a humiliating exit at the U-21 World Tournament and finally facing doubt about his future at the club he loved so much as a boy. He spend the rest of the day on the meadow with his family catching the beautiful scenery on the British turf. Theo continue to search for the encouragement and upliftment he so badly needed. The only thing his mind could be recall was his final conversation which Joachim Lopez; the man who brought his football dream to reality, just before he signed for the reds.

About two years back, still being very new and inexperienced in the European football spectacle, Theo needed someone to support his decision to join Liverpool. He said to Theo

"Playing in the English premier league is a dream very few young African kids eventually actualize"

Although he was absolutely devastated, Theo had already concluded that his short reign in Anfield had come to an end and would need to find a new team to feature in. His father did want him to be an Anfield legend; even right on his deathbed, but he was certain that his father would never been support of the kind of treatment he was getting. Tasha fondly told Theo that it was just one game in which he was left on the bench.

"Come on! It's only one game you were dropped to the bench and the coach had a good reason for it" she said in her ever optimistic nature.

Theo replied "Yes, right now it's one game, but what if this continues for a month, a year or even a decade?"."I'd completely lose my form" he added.

It turned out that Theo's judgement was correct. In the remainder of the games from Theo's U-21 World Cup exit, he only made three appearances out of a possible 12, leaving him with no goals in that run of games. Two of those appearances were made from the bench and the Ghana international just couldn't continue like that. As expected the one-time Champions league winner missed out on football's top global honour - the Ballon D'or.

Once a player, who lit up any stadium he played in, it seemed Theo's career had suddenly blown cold. What could have been the cause for Liverpool's sudden indifference? Why was Theo suddenly being left on the bench too often? Had he become a terrible player? All these were questions often directed to Jose Sepp at press conferences but the Spaniard refused to give out answers to any of them.

The Liverpool Echo which was an independent journalism outfit which majorly specialised in dissecting matters concerning the two of Merseyside's most notable football clubs - Liverpool FC and Everton FC. Their hot topic in their annual winter series was based on Theo and how he had fallen out of favour with the Liverpool board.

Surprisingly, Ian Rush who had achieved legendary status with the club and of course earlier criticised Theo and his Liverpool teammates, was defending Theophilus on a live podcast. He made findings and discovered that Theo had only been less utilized at the club due to major changes in it's hierarchy over the past few weeks. Jose Sepp may not have desired to let Theo's talent waste away on the bench but he had no power to overrule instructions from the board if he wanted to keep his job.The main objective was to make huge profits from selling the Black Eagle to a potential buyer and ultimately taking advantage of his high market value. Dirty tactics those were from Liverpool board.

Theo had already made up his mind on leaving Liverpool in the winter transfer window, but to an unknown destination. speculations kept surrounding the Ghana International's future. Whatever his new club was going to be, one thing that was sure was that it was in the premier league. Where would Theo be opening the next chapter of his career?