Tuesday, October 15, 2024, 7:06 p.m.
Samu Omorodion is a weapon of mass destruction. The striker of Nigerian origin led the Spanish U-21 team’s victory over Malta this Tuesday with a poker in the first half. The attacker, sold by Atlético to Porto in the last summer market, scored the first of his goals in the 5th minute. He received a cross from Javi Guerra, controlled first and derailed the Malta goalkeeper to put La Rojita ahead in a inconsequential duel in qualifying terms, since the team led by Santi Denia has already sealed its ticket for the European Championship of the category that will be held next year in Slovakia after beating Hungary on September 10 with a goal from Robert Navarro. It was just the beginning of the ‘show’ that the new star of the ‘Dragoes’ completed.
It would take Samu Omorodion thirty-two minutes to score the second goal on his personal account against Malta. This time it was Sevilla player Carmona who put in a cross that the forward, after winning the game against Xerri, took advantage of to widen the gap. From that moment on, it combusted and devoured Malta. The third would come in the 39th minute with a sharp shot to the far post. And on the brink of half-time he scored the fourth by heading a ball into the far post from a corner kick that Hujsen had previously touched.
After Sevilla’s Peque made it 5-0 for Spain in the second half, Santi Denia decided to relieve Samu Omorodion to bring on Raúl Moro and allow the Porto ‘killer’ to receive applause from the public gathered in the Stadium Nuevo Mirador de Algeciras, where La Rojita closed the qualifying phase for the European Championship in Slovakia in style. With Samu already observing the evolution of his teammates from the bench, Roberto Fernández put the score at 6-0 in a match with which Omorodion once again knocks on the doors of the senior team.
His absence with Spain ahead of the duels against Denmark and Serbia, corresponding to the Nations League, was already one of the issues highlighted in the press conference that Luis de la Fuente offered after facilitating the call for this October break. «Samu is on our radar. He has a great future in Spanish football. He had to not be there, but he could have been there, but then you would have asked me about the one who is not there. “We have a very high opinion of him,” said the national coach then, who had included him in the pre-list based on the extraordinary performance that the former Granada and Alavés player is offering with Porto and with the U-21 team.
Irrepressible
The forward is being one of the great sensations so far this season. He landed in Porto after his planned move to Chelsea was thwarted due to a medical check-up. The ‘Dragoes’ paid 15 million euros for his services to Atlético, who had tried to place him in the operation that brought Conor Gallagher to the Metropolitano, and since then he has not stopped scoring goals.
He has seven in as many games with Porto – four in the Portuguese league and another three in the Europa League -, to which we must add the four goals he scored this Tuesday with La Rojita. A poker of the latter with which he successfully responded to the challenge presented by the competition of Mateo Joseph, who had just sat him on the bench last Thursday against Kazakhstan, a match in which the Leeds striker sealed a hat-trick. The scoring fight between both directors has Santi Denia delighted.
