Uche Relishes Nigeria AFCON Win

By Ebenezer Bajela

Former Super Eagles forward Ikechukwu Uche is still relishing his Africa Cup of Nations, his only trophy the national team, The PUNCH reports.

The ex-Villarreal and Getafe forward stated during an interview with La Liga Tv.

Sunday Mba scored a magnificent winner as Nigeria won the AFCON for the third time in South Africa in 2013.

Famous for his acrobatic goal celebrations and dazzling performances, Uche made 46 appearances for the three-time African champions and scored 19 goals.

The 39-year-old, who made his debut for Nigeria in a friendly game against Macedonia in 2007 under Berti Vogts, said he was thrilled to have represented the country and went on to win the AFCON.

He said, “Playing for Nigeria is another great dream that I was able to achieve.

“It has always been my dream to play for Nigeria and I was very happy that I was able to achieve that and its not something that happened one time but I was able to play many games for Nigeria.

“I am very happy to have achieved that, coming out of Nigeria and moving to Spain to play in the league to gather experience is something I really cherished, then getting the invite to play for the Super Eagles is one of my greatest moments.

“I also represented Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations and I had the opportunity to be one of the people that will say we won the AFCON and honestly i cannot ask for more.”

Uche spent most of his professional career in Spain, having arrived in the country before the age of 20. He amassed La Liga totals of 194 matches and 42 goals over nine seasons, representing in the competition Recreativo, Getafe, Zaragoza, Villarreal, Granada and Málaga.

The forward said he was pleased with the large presence of African players in Spain.

“It makes me happy to see many Africans playing in La Liga because when I was there, we were very few Africans but now more players from the continent are coming in and we have Djené (Dakonam), who is now the captain of Getafe, Samuel Chukwueze, Yassine Bounou and others.

Uche started his European career with Racing de Ferrol in the Spanish second division in 2002 and spent a season with the club before he teamed up with Recreativo de Huelva, where he helped the side win the Segunda Division title.

The forward delivered impressive performances for Recreativo during his two-year stay and earned a move to Getafe in 2007.

Uche also played for Real Zaragoza before he switched to La Liga side Villarreal, where he enjoyed huge success.

He spent four years with the Yellow Submarine and made more than 90 appearances for the club across all competitions.

The forward moved to Mexican side Tigres UANL after leaving Villarreal and last featured for Gimnastic de Tarragona.

Source: The Punch