16 Jun 2018
Kaliningrad, 16 June 2018. Former Aspire Football Dreams-goalkeeper Francis Uzoho made his debut in the 2018 FIFA World Cup starting in the 2-0 defeat of his home country Nigeria in their first group match against Croatia.
The fourth youngest player in this years’ World Cup, who was born on 28th October 1998 in Nwangele and who plays in La Liga for Deportivo de La Coruna, showed a strong performance and could only be beaten by an unlucky own goal of Etebo (32’) and a Modric-penalty (71’). In the final minute of the game, Uzoho showed another great save against Real Madrid’s Kovacic.
The 19-year-old was part of the Aspire Football Dreams programme in Senegal from 2013 to 2016 and moved to Spain to play for Deportivo La Coruna’s reserve side one year later. He impressed enough to be moved up to the senior team where he kept a clean sheet on his debut in a match which ended in a goalless draw against Eibar on October 15, 2017.
Uzoho, who played at the 2013 Al Kass International Cup in Doha with Aspire Football Dreams, was part of the Nigerian U-17 national team that won the U-17 FIFA World Cup played in the UAE in 2013. He made his debut for Nigeria's senior team against Argentina on November 14, 2017.
In the remaining matches for Nigeria in Group D, Uzoho and his teammates are going to face Iceland on June 22 and Argentina on June 26.