Kelechi Nwakali was awarded Man of the Match in Chaves’ 2-1 home win against Vizela in the Portuguese Primeira Liga on Friday night.
Nwakali featured in his 12th league appearance for struggling Chaves whose win over Vizela halted a run of defeats.
Going into the game on Friday Chaves had lost four consecutive games, with their last win coming on 7th October.
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Thanks to a brilliant man of the match performance from Nwakali, Chaves managed to end the poor run.
Reacting to his award, Nwakali wrote on his X handle:“3 points, Man of the match. Best way to say happy new month. We move @gdchaves1949.”
The win took Chaves out of the relegation zone up to 15th on 10 points in the 18-team table.
Nwakali has four appearances for the Super Eagles after making his debut in 2018.
The 25-year-old was part of the Super Eagles squad that reached the 2021 AFCON round of 16 stage.
Nwakali started his career at the Diamond Football Academy. After his fine performances at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, in which he won the Golden Ball Award, he signed with Arsenal.
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Kelechi Nwakali is one of the homegrown talent who’s consistently been overlooked in the national team despite his recent impressive showings at little known Chaves in the Portuguese football league. With the shortage of quality of personnel in the presently constituted Super Eagles midfield, in terms of creativity and shooting as well as passing range, Pesiero and his coaching crew need no look further; Kelechi Nwakali, the former under 17 world cup winning captain is one to turn to. What he lacks in strong physicality, he more than makes up for in his shooting and passing range. His quick exchange of passes and the ability pull the trigger effortlessly from his midfield position stands him out as a modern day midfield player. What more can one say about his impeccable set pieces, the corner kicks as we say at the last AFCON against Guinea Bissau in Egypt. While not drawing unnecessary comparisons, Kelechi shares many of the aforementioned attributes of Sunday Oliseh and Mikel Obi. It’s a given that he’ll be a huge addition to the Super Eagles midfield of Ndidi Onyinye and possibly Iwobi, a 3-man midfield, serving as a conveyor belt in a central midfield role, providing stability and balance in the middle with the short exchange of quick passes, and freeing up space for adventurous Iwobi in the attacking midfield position. Pretty much like Mikel Obi, Kelechi Nwakali is a gifted midfielder with excellent footwork and who’s quite comfortable with the ball at his feet and can trend long passes from deep lying midfield to pick his man upfront like the days of Sunday Oliseh and if that quality is anything to go by Victor Osimhen will benefit from such ingenuity. His ability to screen the back four with his impressive ball holding and short exchange of passes will also come in handy. Needless to say, his confidence will receive massive boost playing alongside Ndidi Onyinye who’s assured in tackles with strong and imposing physical presence.
Pesiero will need to identify these missing attributes in his midfield with the introduction of players like Kelechi Nwakali.
Defender –
Semi Ajayi
Bassey Calvin
Awaziem Chidozie
Leon Balogun
Kenneth Omeruno
Kevin Akpoguma
Troost Ekong
Igho Ogbu
Jordan Touragiha
Wing backs –
Ola Aina
Sanusi
Collins
Bruno Onyemeachi
Tryone Ebuehi
Bright Samuel Osayi
Midfield –
Iwobi Alex
Ndidi Onyinye
Kelechi Nwakali
Onyeka Frank
Raphael Onyedika
Joe Aribo
Forwards –
Victor Osimhen
Victor Boniface
Terem Moffi
Umar Sadiq
Paul Onuachu
Akor Adams
Wingers –
Simon Moses
Ademola Lookman
Nathan Tella
Samuel Chukwueze
Gift Orban