Leicester City’s man of the moment Kelechi Iheanacho will be seeking to become the eighth Super Eagles star to win the prestigious FA Cup in England when he files out today for the final against Chelsea.
Kanu Nwankwo (twice), Daniel Amokachi, Victor Moses, Celestine Babayaro, Mikel Obi, John Utaka and Alex Iwobi have all played for the Nigerian senior national team and have all won the cup for their respective clubs in England. Now Iheanacho and his compatriot, Wilfred Ndidi are eager to join the exclusive club.
Iheanacho will however want to go a step further by being the man to fire the Foxes to glory like Kanu did for Porstmouth in the final against Cardiff City in May 2008. The former Arsenal striker scored the only goal of the game via a super assist by his countryman, John Utaka in the 37th minute of the game.
Will history be repeated today with Ndidi providing the assist for Iheanacho to score the winner?
Iheanacho is the top scoring Nigerian in the competition with his 14 goals followed by Yakubu Aiyegbeni who scored nine times in 23 appearances. Both have not been lucky to win and only Iheanacho now stands the chance to change that record.
Meanwhile, Iheanacho believes his love story with the FA Cup has one final chapter, setting his sights on lifting the trophy at Wembley.
Since his debut in the competition in 2016, the Nigerian striker has scored more goals in the competition than any other player, netting 14 times in 19 games.
Four of those goals have come in this year’s competition, with his most important coming in the semi-final win over Southampton, labelling his 55th minute strike ‘a dream come true’.
He has made a brilliant admission ahead of this weekend’s showpiece clash against Chelsea – revealing he has gone from wide-eyed FA Cup viewer to potential Wembley wonder.
“I watched the FA Cup when I was little and now, I get the chance to play in the final. It’s really amazing, it’s a dream come true,” said Iheanacho.
“I didn’t expect the goal to come like it did, but we are in the final now, we are really happy, but we need to get back, work hard and hopefully win the final.”
Despite his scintillating form this season, the 24-year-old was quick to downplay the importance of his goals during the Foxes’ FA Cup run this season, insisting it has been a team effort since their third-round win over Stoke City.
“We did it together, we did it as a team,” he said. “Without the team, we could not do it, it is not a one man show.”
Iheanacho, who is the competition’s joint-top scorer this season, was also quick to highlight the importance of fellow striker Jamie Vardy following his involvement in the only goal of the game.
“The partnership between me and Jamie is outstanding,” added Iheanacho.
“His running off the ball is really good, he took the defenders on and cut it back.
“He’s got the pace, he’s got everything, he’s a great player and hopefully we can work together to win the final.”