Maverick in search of right stage to make grand impact

Jay-Jay Okocha, Nigeria's enigmatic midfielder, is preparing for his third World Cup finals eager to emphasise his worth at international level.

Augustine "Jay-Jay" Okocha is a star who shines brightest when the world is watching. In the World Cup four years ago the Nigerian playmaker lit up the group stage with his nimble dribbling, deft control and telepathic passing. Even as he side led Spain 3-2 in the dying minutes of their opening-round encounter, the bottle-blond maverick was more intent on weaving past the opposition than sitting tight and holding out for the whistle. Nigeria ultimately crashed 4-1 to Denmark in the second round but they had made their mark, again.

Four years before, in America, they had come tantalisingly close to the quarter-finals, also with Okocha to the fore. They were denied at the death in the second round by a resurgent Roberto Baggio, who scored once for Italy on 88 minutes to take the game to extra time and then again from the spot to break the Africans' hearts.

So when Okocha says that this World Cup could be his passport to pastures new, you believe he is intent on making an impression. His contract at Paris St-Germain is all but expired, and after four years with no silverware he feels it is time to move on. "I would love to play in England, if it were possible," the 28-year-old told The Independent last month, as he prepared for Nigeria's friendly against Scotland in Aberdeen.

"I like the Premiership and La Liga because they're the two leagues that play the most attractive football. Hopefully I can arrange something soon." If England is not his destination, Spain probably will be. What happens in Japan this summer could determine precisely where one of Africa's finest talents spends the prime years of his career. And whether Okocha will be part of the first African side ever to win a World Cup or simply part of another side who failed in a blaze of glory.

A precocious young teenager, he made his debut at 16 for a local side, Rangers International. At 17, on holiday in Germany, he asked for a trial with lowly Borussia Neunkirchen and was signed on the spot. At 19 he moved to First Division Eintracht Frankfurt, where he rubber-stamped his credentials in 1993 with a marvellous solo dribble and strike against Karlsruhe – and Oliver Kahn – that was later voted the Bundesliga's goal of the year. By 1996, he was on his way again, for £1m, to Fenerbahce. The Turkish title followed, as did some memorable European nights, including a 1-0 Champions' League win at Old Trafford in October 1996. Then in 1998 came the move to PSG for a cool £10m.

It is on the international stage, though, that he has won his major honours. The 1994 African Nations' Cup came first. A 1996 Olympic gold medal showed it was no fluke. And the 2002 World Cup?

"It would be great achievement just to qualify from our group," Okocha says. "There is nothing to lose in the group of death. That is our incentive."

Of his country's meeting with England, on 12 June in Osaka, he is cautious, but not too cautious. "I hope we'll have qualified from the group before we meet England. If you want to achieve a strong result in the end, you have to beat the strongest teams on the way. England have good individual players, but we aren't interested in that, we'll play them as a team. Every game will be like a World Cup final. We know it will be tough but we have a very good squad."

The squad, without doubt, is talented. Okocha is likely to play in a team that should include Arsenal's Nwankwo Kanu, Chelsea's Celestine Babayaro and Ajax's dynamo winger Tijani Babangida to name but three.

But Okocha's own form, at club level, has oscillated. Inconsistency has not endeared him to PSG fans, while he has, at times, found it hard to find his rhythm when asked to play defensively or off the bench.

And the Nigerian national side has just gone through a traumatic spell, divided by in-fighting, squabbles with the country's FA over the payment of expenses, disillusionment with poor facilities and disappointment with results. This year's African Nations' Cup in Mali ended in an anti-climactic third place and the sack for coach Amodu Shaibu. So serious was it deemed that Shaibu faced questions in the country's National Assembly.

"Okocha is a player who plays when the team is playing, he does not play when the team has not got the ball," Shaibu told the hearing. "But Okocha makes things happen. Sometimes his combination with Kanu is devastating to the opponent... If I remove him, which player in my bench will I use to compare with Okocha?"

In Shaibu's place has come Adegboye Onigbinde, the first native to lead Nigeria to a World Cup, after the Netherlands' Clemens Westerhof in1994 and and Yugoslavia's Bora Milutinovic in 1998. Briefly the national coach in the early 1980s, his background is in technical development but his major challenge in the Far East will be to foster a genuine team spirit from a group of free thinkers.

To that end, it had been said, Onigbinde will hand Okocha the captaincy in Japan, not least because it is the PSG player who has largely been credited with forging a "rare team spirit" in his camp before recent friendlies.

"We have no doubt in our mind that Okocha is capable of giving the Super Eagles the kind of leadership that will make the team succeed," one senior Nigerian FA source was quoted as saying in the local press recently. "We are witnessing the upsurge of a new team spirit that is etched strongly on the love for the game and country."

The player himself is less expansive. "The organisation [is] a lot better now than before," he says. "And as long as our preparation is good, we can do well."

It is hardly revolutionary. But then this a man who prefers his work to do the talking.