For Gideon Kodua, the most important thing to remember during Friday’s match with Stoke City is to enjoy it.
It is the same mentality the striker has going into any and every single appearance he makes for West Ham United.
Delight in his work could be thought easy to come by, given how well Kodua and the U18s are performing this season. The attacker has ten goals this season, helping Kevin Keen’s side to the top of the U18 Premier League South table and an FA Youth Cup last 16 date with the Potters.
With Friday’s fixture set for the bet365 Stadium, there are plenty of reasons for Kodua to make sure he takes in every second of this week’s match.
It is an outlook he carries into every game.
“I feel good regarding how the team has gone about the FA Youth Cup,” Kodua told whufc.com. “The team has been set challenges and I feel like we’ve overcome them, and the next challenge now is Stoke City.
“It’s now about how we overcome that. I trust that the boys have learned from previous matches and hopefully, on Friday, we can start fast, get the momentum and get a good result.
“We’ve got to make sure we enjoy it too. I tell myself every single game to make sure you enjoy it. You never know which one is going to be your last, at the end of the day. We also need to make sure we have our focus. We’re going up there to do a job but, I think if we enjoy it, we’ll do our jobs naturally.”
Kodua holds a mature attitude for a teenage striker breaking through at the Academy of Football. But for a young man who grew up playing his football with Newham District, it is one that has been enforced by his upbringing.
“I’ve always looked at football that way. It’s a privilege to play. My family have always instilled in me the importance of getting an education and let’s say, God forbid, I got a career-ending injury, I’ve got to fall back on something else.
“I want to make sure I enjoy every single game I play in.”
There was no doubt that Kodua and his teammates enjoyed the fourth-round win away to Burnley just over a week ago.
A competitive fixture, in which both the Clarets and the Irons enjoyed spells of domination, was eventually settled on 89 minutes when captain Kodua’s superb run from the half-way line resulted in a lay-off for George Earthy.
The midfielder made no mistake with his first-time finish, sparking scenes of jubilation in both the immediate celebration and in the changing room at full-time.
“Burnley was a battle,” Kodua reflected. “We knew they would come at us and that it would be a physical match. We did struggle a little but we did enough to keep them out. Hopefully that game can be a learning curve for us as a group and for each of us, individually.
“In the game itself, there were times where I was looking up and thinking ‘this is going to come down to someone messing up or something being a hero’. It was one of those where someone was either going to score a really good goal, or making a mistake, and thankfully we were able to get a really good goal.
“It was a great evening. The changing room is always fun to be around, but especially after such a big result. There was an element of relief in the group but also, we were proud of ourselves because we had to really dig deep to get the win.”
The reward for victory at Burnley is a trip to Stoke City. A place in the quarter-finals is up for grabs for the winners, although the Irons have not reached that stage since the 2004/05 season.
Any thoughts of a potential first last eight outing in 18 years will not cross Kodua’s mind though. The forward knows the team have an important task at the bet365 Stadium on Friday.
“If we keep our heads down, stay focused and maintain our standards – or even raise them even more – then anything is possible for this group. We back ourselves on the pitch because of how we train every day. We have a really high intensity in training which allows us to deal with any situation that can occur on a matchday.
“That being said, we’re focused on one game at a time. If that quarter-final comes, then it comes, and we’ll prepare for it. But right now I want to take each match as they come and not get too far ahead. We’ve got work to do on Friday first.”
If it does come, there is no doubt Kodua will enjoy that game too.
