Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid cannot but be happy seeing Nigerian Obafemi Martins, who just returned from an injury, giving his team a landslide victory against Orlando City in the Major League Soccer, MLS on Sunday.
Martins scored a brace with an assist to emerge man of the match in a 4-0 thrashing of Orlando City, who had Brazil star Kaka on their line-up.
An elated Schmid described Martins, who had not enjoyed a call up from successive Super Eagles’ coaches back home in Nigeria, a team player who always boosts the confidence of his teammates when he is on the field of play.
The coach told mlssoccer.com after the match that “Martins brings special qualities but the most important thing he brings is he also gives everybody else on the field confidence. As their confidence grows, now all of the sudden guys who have been struggling, they play beyond themselves a little bit. It makes all the difference in the world.”
The floodgates opened on Sunday, with Martins and the freshly acquired Valdez combining for three of their team’s four goals.
The goal and overall performance from Valdez was also a positive sign for Seattle, as the Paraguayan national looked perfectly comfortable in his first game action with Martins and his new Seattle teammates.
He notched Seattle’s second goal of the day just minutes into the second half, after zipping a header into the Orlando net off a cross from midfielder Erik Friberg.
Afterwards, Martins told mlssoccer.com that the history he and Valdez have as teammates will bode well for their chemistry as they integrate their newest weapon into their attack.
“I played with Valdez in Russian side Rubin Kazan for a while,” Martins said. “We’ve played against each other too. So we’re quite close. We know each other, he’s a good guy, so we’re happy to have him here and we can’t wait for Clint Dempsey to get back as well for the team to be more solid.”
This is how SportsJoe.ie described Martins after Sunday’s MLS victory: “If you didn’t know before, you know now. Seattle Sounders starlet Obafemi Martins is poised to set the world alight.
“The Nigerian youngster is already being touted as the next big football superstar to emerge from the H0t prospect conveyor belt known as the MLS. He showed during his side’s 4-0 demolition of world footballing behemoths Orlando City that he fully deserves the label of the “next Lionel Messi”.
“Whizzkid Martins cropped up with two sublime goals during the well-worked victory. The first coming after a wonderful one-two split open the defence, allowing Martins to use his youthful, quick legs to dart inside the box and apply the finish.
“Martins used phenomenal trickery to grab his second of the game, casually dinking the ball over the keeper to himself before tapping the ball over the line.
“No doubt that after his latest performance, the Wengers and the Guardiolas are out there sniffing about to see if Seattle would be willing to part with their wonderkid striker.”
