Football is, at its very core, all about moments. And the 2022/23 season has been comprised of many unforgettable moments for Gideon Kodua.
Being named West Ham United U18s captain, signing his first professional deal, and making his U21s debut rank highly on the 18-year-old’s personal highlights for the campaign so far.
But leading the team out on Thursday evening at London Stadium, for an FA Youth Cup semi-final, is certainly in contention for top spot.
“I can’t help but think about what it will be like to play at London Stadium,” Kodua told the Official Matchday Programme, which is available to purchase online now here!
“Sometimes I’ll just be sat at home and I’ll find myself daydreaming about it.
“But it’s important to me that we make sure we don’t allow the occasion to get to us. We’ve played in a couple of stadiums on this run to the semi-final and, at the end of the day, we’re fully focused on trying to get to the final.
“Mark Noble asked me if I was excited for the game and I told him I was looking forward to the experience, but that it was so much more important to me that we as a team were able to focus on our football and do everything we can to get the win.”
In reaching the last four, West Ham U18s are in the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time since 1999; the last time a Hammers team won the entire competition.
A side containing the likes of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick defeated Coventry City 9-0 over two legs, with Cole and Carrick just two Academy graduates that went on to achieve immense success in professional football.
Their legacies are recognised in the artwork at the home of the Academy of Football, at Chadwell Heath, and the significance of those accomplishments are not lost on Kodua and his teammates.
“Walking around at Chadwell Heath is really inspiring,” he continued. “You see the photos up of players like Joe Cole and Michael Carrick, who won the FA Youth Cup while they were here. There’s also pictures of people like Mark Noble, Bobby Moore, and other West Ham icons, and it’s a huge inspiration.
“Seeing those faces in the corridor as we go into training, or into the gym, it reminds you that these players who have done so much in their careers were all where we are right now.”
In Thursday’s opponents, Southampton, West Ham are facing a side that not only pipped them to the U18 Premier League South title last season but also became the first team to defeat the Irons in the league this campaign.
As such, Kodua knows the Saints will be no easy test in east London. The south coast side are also targeting a shot at FA Youth Cup immortality.
The captain’s belief in the team is unbreakable though. Since the start of the season, Kodua has just had an unshakable feeling that the U18s could achieve something truly special.
“If you’d said to me at the start of the season that we’d be competing at the top of the league, and we’d be in an FA Youth Cup semi-final, I would have probably believed you, to be honest,” he added.
“I don’t mean that to sound boastful or big-headed. But I knew the quality and commitment we had in this team.
“At the start of the season, my big goal for the group was to win the league. I feel like it got taken away from us last year, and that’s not to take anything away from Southampton because they played well all season and were deserving winners. But it felt like a missed opportunity for us last year.
“This season we’ve gelled really well as a team and performed really consistently. It's a cliché, but this group is genuinely like a big family. It really is because I see these lads and the staff more than I see anyone else. They’re like my second family and I really love these guys.
“It would just mean the world to me to achieve something with this team this season. I really think we can do it.”