Sporting Lagos’ 15-year-old goalkeeping phenom, Ebenezer Harcourt, wants to keep learning and improving despite his historic appearance in the home-based Super Eagles’ final game at the African Nations Championship, Footynaija.com reports.
Harcourt wrote his name in the annals of Nigerian football by becoming the youngest goalkeeper to make an appearance for the Super Eagles when he manned the posts against Congo. To make things even better, the youngster marked his debut with a clean sheet as Nigeria cruised to a 2-0 victory.
Reflecting on his first experience as a senior international, Harcourt, who expressed gratitude to God for the opportunity, revealed how his older colleagues helped him settle nicely into the team.
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“It was my first time being with these high level players. They’re the stars of the NPFL,” the 15-year-old told Super Eagles media. “The other goalkeepers embraced me well. They took me as one of them, guided me well and that gave me confidence.
“I thank God for giving me the opportunity, because in life, everything is all about opportunity and I took my chance very well too. This platform is one of the biggest stages of my football career. It’s all about learning and consistency. With the goalkeeper trainer guiding me, I believe that I will be great.”
Harcourt starred for Nigeria’s Flying Eagles at the U20 African Cup of Nations held in Egypt earlier this year. He played a crucial role in Nigeria’s unbeaten group stage run before providing a shootout masterclass performance in the quarterfinals with two crucial saves from six yards to help the Flying Eagles see off Senegal.
That performance also secured Nigeria’s FIFA U20 World Cup ticket with the competition slated to take place in Chile later this year.
