Rashidi Yekini already clocked 31 when Nigeria landed at the 1994 World Cup in the USA, but his career was at its peak. He was the reigning king of African Football at the time and had led the scorer’s chat and won the tournament’s best player when Nigeria emerged victorious at the African Cup of Nations just two months earlier. With eight goals in seven games, Rashidi Yekini scored nearly half his nation’s total tally of goals in qualifying for their first ever World Cup. He had also led the scorer’s chart in Portugal that season, the first Vitória Setubal player to win the Bola de Prata for half a century. He also had it rosy in his personal life, with his marriage set for later that summer. In Nigeria’s first game, against Bulgaria, Yekini shone, scoring once and setting up another in a 3-0 win. After tapping in a low cross from then Ipswich Town winger, Finidi George, his momentum carried him into the goal, where he celebrated passionately with his arms pushed through the net. Yekini was lost in the moment. It became one of the most memorable sights of the tournament. Yekini was without doubt a man of himself. A man who had a clear idea of what he wanted and what he wanted to do for his country. He was always willing to risk everything for the team. Yekini had forced his way from an apprenticeship as a mechanic in the northern state of Kaduna to the height of professional football. A tall, broad force of nature and spirit, he was indeed a legend,” The country totally depended on him to get goals and he was called “The goal father” because he was known to always get goals. Off the pitch, he was far from limelight, but on the pitch he was a totally reliable player and a force to reckon with. The Africa Cup of Nations is the platform on which the continent’s biggest showmen get on display, and in respect to that, none has shone more than the late Rashidi Yekini has. Blessed with gifts of physique and pace most strikers could only dream about, Yekini put his natural abilities to superb use at the Nations Cup, coupled with an extraordinary sense of positioning, speed of thought, improvisation and, maybe most importantly, great finishing skill. Yekini was arguably at his best during the 1994 Nations Cup, bagging the prize for the overall top scorer and best player awards respectively. Described by teammate, Sunday Oliseh as the best point-man Nigeria ever had, Yekini was constantly a thorn in the flesh of defenders, often punishing the slightest mistake with lethal efficiency. Yekini’s talent brought to fans loads of Afcon highlights and unforgettable goals with nostalgia for progeniture, thereby engraving unforgettable memories in the minds of most. Mind-blowing individual displays like what he put up in the 1994 quarter-final match against Zaire – do yourself a favour and enjoy on YouTube – makes certain the fact that Yekini rightly deserves to be considered the Nigeria’s best ever striker.
