By Patrick Omorodion
“ Que Sera, Sera, translated to mean, “What Will Be Will Be”. It is the title of a song made popular by Doris Day. It has come handy when the story of Victor Okoh Boniface, the Nigerian footballer that has set the Bundesliga on fire currently is being told.
Not much is known about Victor Boniface popularly called “Big Vic” by fans and friends except that he was born 23 years ago in Akure, Ondo State to Mr and Mrs Boniface Okoh, according to records. In fact he turned excatly 23 years old yesterday. He started from playing prominently for Real Sapphire, a football academy based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Maybe it was from this academy that scouts recommended him to Emmanuel Amuneke in 2015 when he took over from Manu Garba as the coach of the natinal U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets. Also in that Amuneke team in 2015 was another Victor, son of Osimhen. In a recent interview with Chief Segun Odegbami, Amuneke said that Osimhen was not spotted for inclusion into the final squad because he played on the side of the possibles against the probables.
His attention was however, called by one of his assistants who told him the player was both skillful and strong and should be given a second chance. And he eventually made it. This was not the same with the second Victor, son of Boniface as, acording to Amuneke, he didn’t make the final cut. An African cliche says “there is no food for a lazy man”.
This may have prompted Boniface, not to rue is non inclusion in the final squad of the U-17 that went ahead to conquer the world and return home with the World Cup but work harder. He moved on with his career, hoping for a breakthrough. After that disappointment, his next move, we are told, was to the Belgian League where he signed for Glimt in 2019. From Glimt he moved again to Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the same Belgian League in 2021 where he was reported to have scored six goals.
From Royale Union, he joined Bayer Leverkusen this season for a fee of 20million euros. And his rise here has been phenomenal so far. Boniface has “been recognized for his speed, strength and amazing skills. He is also a great finisher with shot accuracy and his style of play has been compared to his namesake, Victor Osimen. From August through to December, he has won the Rookie of the Month Award five consecutive times.
In December alone, he scored three goals, made two assists for Leverkusen who finished the first half of the German league as “Winter Champions”, for the first time since the 2009/2010 season. Currently Boniface is the fourth on the Bundesliga scorers chart, the leading scorer for Bayer Leverkusen with 10 goals to his credit, out of the 46 recorded by the club so far.
Like Osimhen set the Serie A on fire last season, Boniface has follwed suit this season in the Bundesliga. And this is making Nigerian football fans hope for a good outing at the Africa Nations Cup (AFCON) which kicks off in Cote d’Ivoire in exactly 20 days time. With the two Victors hitting a good rhythm close to the AFCON, Nigerians are hoping that the Super Eagles handler, Jose Peseiro, who has been receiving flaks after his wards struggled against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers recently, could tinker the team to make serious impact at the competition.
Not many are however, optimistic on the Eagles’ chances because according to them, a bad Chef may not prepare a good soup even if he is given the best of ingredients for it. With the richest of ingredients, if the Chef doesn’t know the right proportions and the right time to apply them, the soup may turn out very unpalatable. Already the Portuguese coach has put the wrong foot forward by naming a crowded squad of 40 players from which he is expected to name between 24 to 27 players, against the maximum of 23 that was hitherto allowed.
CAF however, stated that the inclusion of the four additional players on the final roster is only an option and not an obligation. Coaches before now, including the only indigenous coach that has won the AFCON trophy, the late Stephen Keshi, usually don’t name more than 30 players for selection trials with only three weeks left to the comencement of the competition. So what was the purpose of all the friendly matches Peseiro prosecuted if he is still unsure of the core players he needs to prosecute the AFCON?
How will he select from the 13 attackers and defenders he has respectively invited for final screening with only 10 days to the deadline for the submission of the final squad list? Understandably because of the barrage of criticisms over the goalkeeping problems of the team, Peseiro has invited six tenders, again with main suspect, Francis Uzoho leading the pack.
