Eniwoke Ibagere reports from Lagos

Julius Aghahowa is only 18.

The ebony-black, athletic striker is Nigeria's supersub and scoring sensation at the African Nations Cup tournament.

The soccer whizzkid was born into a large Christian family in mid-western Benin City - a dusty town with red-laterite roads, where bronze casting, football and gymnastics are the three constants.

Aghahowa, who scored two goals in ten minutes to rescue Nigeria from a shock tournament departure at the hands of Senegal, is unabashed by his squalid background.

"I grew up in a somewhat ghetto area of the town where lots of kids play all sorts of games and different kind of sport.

"I got interested in soccer and gymnastics. But I think my skills in both are gifts from God; talents I was born with which can't be taken away from me."

In two Nations Cup matches, Aghahowa has scored thrice - twice with his left foot and once with the right.

Through the goals, he's exhibited his guile, determination and commitment.

And for each goal, the icing on the cake is the awesome acrobatic display of sommersaults he gives in celebration.

"Some people are surprised about how I've celebrated each of my goals by throwing five or six sommersaults which is nothing," says dismissively, the Tunisia's Esperance FC forward.

"When I score for my club in the Tunisian league, I sometimes throw 11 or 12 sommersaults, depending on how happy I'm with the goal and the space I get before my mates mob me in celebration."

Esperance were silver medallists in last year's Africa Champions League tournament, losing on penalties to Moroccan club Raja Casablanca.

Enroute to the final, Aghahowa scored a 40-metre cracker against Mauritian club La Reunion and threw as many sommersaults as the spectators could count, making less important the goal he scored!

His most important must be the brace against the hard-fighting Senegalese team in the Nations Cup quarter-final.

The Nigerians were one down as early as in the sixth minute and on the verge on a shock exit from the tournament they are favourites to win.

Aghahowa dusted his pants and got off the subs bench.

And after covering every blade of grass in the attack, with five minutes left, he blasted a half volley with his left foot to level scores.

Within two minutes of extra time, he squeezed in the winner amidst a clutch of Senegalese defenders.

"I still can't believe it. I'm relieved and stunned by everything," he said.

But I'm happy that I made my team mates happy, got the entire country joyful. Scoring is an art where if you have the chance and take it, you become famous."

He is already on the right path to glory. But it's not totally right to call Aghahowa "a bolt from the blue".

He's always shown flashes of individual magical brilliance since he began his soccer career three years ago with the non-league side Police FC in Benin City.

A year later, first division club Bendel Insurance, a household name in the town and Nigeria, signed him on.

Coaches from the Nigerian Under-20 team soon came calling, taking him to last year's African Youth Championships in Ghana.

The team won the silver medal and he came on as a second half substitute in three matches.

Two months after that tournament came the World Youth Cup in April.

In the opening game between the hosts Nigeria and Costa Rica, a ginger-haired Aghahowa was on the start-list...and of course scored the tournament's opening goal in the 1-1 drawn game.

He couldn't save Nigeria's exit from the quarter-final stage but he had made his mark for Esperance officials to come desperately to offer him a lucrative contract.

"I believe I have a greater and brighter future in my soccer career," he says. "I want to have more opportunities to show the stuff I'm made off."

The Nations Cup is a grand platform for him to show his skills. But he almost never made the squad.

Last November, the country's soccer authorities suspended him from playing for any of its teams because he failed to show up for a warm-up game after his release had been secured from his club.

The dust eventually settled and when Dutch coach Jo Bonfrere assumed duties in December, Aghahowa was in the Nations Cup provisional squad of 31 assembled to start preparations.

But now, no longer is he a bit-part member of the team.

He's become the heart, with a talismanic image, coming from the substitutes bench to score goals and throw flips of sommersaults!!