In November, the NFF general secretary Mohammed Sanusi, himself a trained football coach, got a high when he watched Jude Sunday cut through a defence again and again.
He went forward and took a portrait picture of the nippy, 18-year-old winger with his phone with a stern warning to coach Ladan Bosso – “This boy has to be on your final squad (to the U20 AFCON in Egypt) and I have my evidence on my phone!”
The Nasarawa-born winger showed a glimpse of what he is capable of when he was picked as Man of the Match in the third-place match against Tunisia after he fired a well-taken brace in a 4-0 demolition.
His 68th minute goal to make it 3-0 was breath-taking as he had to dance past several markers before he finished off wonderfully for another great solo goal.
Jude Sunday scored this amazing solo goal in the Flying Eagles' big win yesterday.
— Soar Super Eagles (@SSE_NGA) March 11, 2023
Just unstoppable 💨 pic.twitter.com/3xwomeI7Pi
CAF simply described him as “a star in the making”.
“Jude Sunday is in top shape,” a top Flying Eagles official told SCORENigeria from Argentina.
“He was outstanding against Colombia and should he keep up this performance, we can dream big.”
Sunday netted another superb solo effort to pull a goal back after Colombia had raced to a two-goal lead in the first half.
He is a very exciting forward with a great centre of gravity and balance who loves to take on his markers and pops up to score or create goals armed with a magical left foot a la the great Lionel Messi.
At the U20 AFCON in Egypt in March, the faster Haliru Sarki was preferred to him, but he still showed flashes of genius when he came off the bench until he started against Tunisia to remind us of what he is really capable of.
“He (Jude Sunday) made the difference against Tunisia,” remarked Bosso.
“He had always come from the bench, but he got his chance to start this match and he took his opportunity to prove the depth in the squad.”
It is therefore safe to bet on the stocky winger who will be sporting jersey number 15 doing serious damage Sunday against the Dominican Republic in Mendoza when the Flying Eagles get their U20 World Cup campaign off the ground.
Sunday will be at his best on the day he was so named.
Considering a format like this for African representatives in Mundial, Nigeria has no excuse not to qualify at a goal. I wish SE the best as from November 2023 till our qualification match.