Okocha chose the Turkish soccer giants ahead offers fromSpain,Franceand evenGermanybecause of his desire to play alongside his national team colleague, Uche Okechukwu, who had helped Fernerbache to a second position finish in the Turkish championship that year.
“Jay Jay” got lots of publicity in 1997 for his contribution to the progress of Turkish football as he helped Fenerbache to lift the Turkish championship in 1996/97 season scoring 16 goals in 33 matches and getting a place at the UEFA Champions League. Okocha finished as one of the highest goals scorers in the 1995/96 and 1996/97 season scoring 14 and 16 goals respectively.
One of Okocha’s glorious moments wearing theNigeria’s green-white-green Jersey came when he played as a substitute inNigeria’s 1-0 win overUzbekistanin the return leg match of the Afro Asian Cup. Earlier he had featured forNigeriain the US Gold Cup and scored in the 3-2 defeat by the Crack United States team.
He enriched his international career by winning Africa’s first ever Olympic Gold medal in the men’s soccer withNigeria’s U-23 team inAtlantain 1996, scoring a twice – taken penalty againstMexicoin the quarter finals.
Okocha’s performance at the France ’98 FIFA World Cup is worth mentioning because he was rattling and dazzling againstSpain,BulgariaandDenmark.
“Jay Jay” superlative displays at the ’98 mundial, made the France ’98 coordinating president and the present UEFA President Michel Platini had described Okocha as one of the few pure number 10’s remaining in the world of football.
After France ’98, he became the French record transfer holder and the most expensive African player in the last millennium with his 18 million dollars transfer from Fernerbache to Paris Saint Germain (PSG).
He got married in 1997 to Miss Nkechi, and his first child was born when the world cup was in progress in 1998. The name of the child is Daniella.
During Ghana/Nigeria 2000 African Cup of Nations tournament, Okocha scored two goals inNigeria’s 4-2 demolishing ofAlgeriaand was on target forNigeriain the final againstCameroon, scoringNigeria’s equalizer. He riffled home a rocket shot to bringNigerialevel although we lost the game 3-5 on penalties.
Okocha took over the Eagles Captainship at the 2002 Nations Cup because of his leadership qualities.
He also captained the Eagle’s at theKorea/Japan 2002 FIFA world cup. Although the tournament was the nation’s worst but “Jay Jay’s” skills and experience earned him a sign-on by Bolton Wanderers of England.
Watch out for the concluding part on Friday.
