After becoming Nigeria’s youngest ever full international, Sporting Lagos FC goalkeeper, Ebenezer Ifeanyi Harcourt has been officially listed as the only home-based player in the Super Eagles’ roster for next month’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Sports247 reports that the 15-year-old shot-stopper on Tuesday broke a long-standing record set in 2002 by 2001 FIFA U17 World Cup revelation, Femi Opabunmi as Nigeria’s youngest senior national team player.
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Harcourt set the new mark with a clean sheet during a 2-0 victory for the home-based Eagles over Congo in their last group match at the Championship of African Nations (CHAN 2024).
Nigeria’s football record books had to be quickly adjusted, as baby-faced Harcourt hogged all headlines and was even interviewed by the website of Confederation of African (CAF), as he had broken a record that had also previously been held by Henry Nwosu and Daniel Amokachi.
The fast-rising teenage keeper, who was also the youngest player at this year’s African U20 Cup of Nations in May, where he stopped two penalties in Nigeria’s quarter-finals victory over Senegal, is now bound to etch more landmarks in the ‘main’ Super Eagles’ camp which opens on September 1st in Uyo.
That would be just 50 days to his 16th birthday on October 21st, and Harcourt will be at the Eagles’ nest as the first lower division, Nigeria National League (NNL) player to get such an opportunity in a very long while.
He will, however, have to shine better than Singida Black Stars of Tanzania’s Amas Obasogie, Adebayo Adeleye of Volos FC in Geece and Nigeria’s current number one, Stanley Nwabali from Chippa United of South Africa for him to make the final roster of three keepers from the provisional list of 31 invitees that was released on Friday.
However, with providence having already guided Harcourt into the CHAN Eagles’ squad while he still awaits a call to duty at this year’s FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile, the starry-eyed netminder would be happy enough just to be on the Eagles’ bench for their September 6th clash with Rwanda in Uyo and then hop on the plane out to tango South Africa on September 9th.
Should Harcourt make the Eagles’ squad list for both matches, he would set a new benchmark for not only goalkeepers but all manner of Nigerian national team players across the ages, and it would be just two weeks after he admitted that being in the CHAN 2024 squad was like a dream for him.
Dramatically, the new whiz-kid admitted he was shell-shocked being in the midst of Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) stars, but now he’s set for an even more edifying fairy tale, as he gets set to dine and wine with foreign-based icons, whose statuses he already knows are way above what he saw of the home-based players during their fruitless spree in Zambia.
Harcourt said about the experience he gained in the Eagles B-squad’s camp: “It was my first time of being with high-level players like the stars of the NPFL.
“They are really good players, and the goalkeepers embraced me as their own. They guided me well, talked to me, and gave me confidence.”
He went on to give thanks to God for making the experience possible and concluded with a ray of hope that he would continue receiving useful success tips from all coaches he that he meets in the national camp.
“I thank God for giving me the opportunity. Life is all about opportunity, and I’m happy that I took my chance very well.
He philosophised: “It’s one of the biggest stages of my football career. It’s all about learning and consistency. With these coaches guiding me, I believe that I’ll be great.”
Sports247 gathered further that Harcourt will also soon become counted among Nigeria’s foreign-based legion, as he has already attracted interest from clubs in France, Belgium and Germany.
