Amokachi: The Two Goals Folded Into Another Man's Hat-Trick
Case 013's Group D ledger records three different scorers for Nigeria's 3-0 win over Bulgaria at the Cotton Bowl on 21 June 1994: Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55'. For thirty years that match has been retold as "a Yekini hat-trick"; this archive has already corrected it. This file opens the account of the second of those three names: he scored 2 of Nigeria's six group goals — the highest individual tally in the squad — and the peak of his ledger, 84, sits not at the World Cup but in the club season before it.
Page one of the file
Daniel Amokachi, born 1972, a Nigerian centre-forward, retired in 2002. BallFact has filed 6 seasons of his career: two at Club Brugge (Belgium), one at Everton (England), two at Beşiktaş (Turkey) — plus a 1994 national-team row (the World Cup).
He is not a man this archive discovered first — he is a man from a match this archive first got wrong. While re-auditing Group D for Case 013, a "Yekini hat-trick" that had been retold for thirty years came apart into three names: Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55'. This file opens the account of the second of them. He scored 2 of Nigeria's 6 group goals — the highest individual tally in the squad (43' vs Bulgaria, 90' vs Greece) — while the peak our ledger gives him, 84, sits not at the World Cup but in the club season before it: finishing 88, off-the-ball 90 unmoved across six seasons, durability down to 48 in the last row.
Year-by-year attribute matrix · 1991/92—1998/99
★ = peak season. This matrix is editorial derivation (L3): anchored on audited public results and this archive's own match ledger, solved from no game database. Heat shading only encodes absolute level (scale 60–99); the outlined cell is the single ≥92 one. The 1994 row is a national-team year (World Cup), filed on its own per our convention. Per-season appearances, goals and standings are not held here, so the matrix omits and the prose never cites them. That "Off the ball = 90" is identical in all six rows is machine-checked against the database; if it fails, this page is not allowed to exist.
| Season | Age | Pos | MOBILITY | TECHNIQUE | PHYSICAL | DEFENDING | MENTAL | WILL | GOALKEEPER | OVR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | SPT | AGI | OFF | FIN | LSH | PAS | THR | CRO | SET | SHD | FTO | DRI | HEA | LFT | RFT | STA | STR | DUR | AIR | D1V | MAR | POS | AGR | ZON | INT | PRS | VIS | CMP | CON | LEA | STB | WOR | SHW | HGRL | WTW | DFZ | BIG | SAV | AER | CMD | DIS | ONE | OVR | |||
| 1991/92 | 18 | 81 | 83 | 78 | 90 | 86 | 76 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 80 | 79 | 78 | 74 | 78 | 60 | 72 | 80 | 80 | 82 | 74 | 34 | 28 | 44 | 68 | 43 | 40 | 65 | 77 | 80 | 70 | 52 | 74 | 72 | 84 | 90 | 76 | 51 | 82 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 83 | |
| 1993/94 | 21 | 81 | 83 | 78 | 90 | 88 | 76 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 80 | 79 | 78 | 74 | 75 | 61 | 73 | 80 | 80 | 82 | 74 | 34 | 28 | 44 | 68 | 43 | 40 | 65 | 79 | 84 | 70 | 52 | 76 | 72 | 84 | 92 | 79 | 51 | 85 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 84 | |
| 1994 | 21 | 81 | 83 | 78 | 90 | 84 | 76 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 80 | 76 | 78 | 74 | 75 | 60 | 72 | 80 | 74 | 82 | 74 | 34 | 28 | 44 | 63 | 43 | 40 | 65 | 79 | 84 | 70 | 52 | 76 | 72 | 84 | 90 | 79 | 51 | 85 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 82 | |
| 1994/95 | 21 | 81 | 81 | 78 | 90 | 80 | 76 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 80 | 76 | 78 | 74 | 75 | 59 | 71 | 80 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 34 | 28 | 44 | 63 | 43 | 40 | 65 | 76 | 78 | 70 | 52 | 73 | 72 | 84 | 87 | 75 | 51 | 80 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 81 | |
| 1996/97 | 23 | 81 | 81 | 78 | 90 | 82 | 76 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 80 | 76 | 78 | 74 | 75 | 60 | 72 | 80 | 74 | 76 | 74 | 34 | 28 | 44 | 63 | 43 | 40 | 65 | 79 | 84 | 70 | 52 | 76 | 72 | 84 | 89 | 79 | 51 | 85 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 82 | |
| 1998/99 | 26 | 73 | 75 | 74 | 90 | 76 | 76 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 80 | 76 | 78 | 74 | 75 | 59 | 71 | 70 | 74 | 48 | 74 | 34 | 28 | 44 | 63 | 43 | 40 | 65 | 79 | 84 | 70 | 52 | 76 | 72 | 84 | 86 | 79 | 51 | 84 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 79 | |
How to read this table? Not from the right-hand column. Start with "Off the ball" (OFF): 90, 90, 90, 90, 90, 90 — identical across six rows. In our ledger this man's movement, from 18 to 26, never moved. Then two more columns: "Finishing" runs 86 → 88 → 84 → 80 → 82 → 76, its top a year before the World Cup; "Durability" collapses to 48 in the final row, 28 points below the one before. One ledger, two sentences: his nose never declined — what declined was the leg that used to reach the place his nose had chosen.
The peak sits a year before the World Cup
Six rows, six testimonies
Club Brugge, Belgian first division — the first row of our ledger: overall 83, finishing 86. The first thing the file records about an 18-year-old is that he already knew where to stand (off-the-ball 90, unmoved for six seasons).
★ Peak · Club Brugge. Overall 84 is the unique high of six rows and finishing 88 its own column's top; but the priciest cell in the table is not the foot — it is goal hunger, HGRL 92. Our ledger puts his best year a season before the World Cup.
★ National-team year · the 1994 World Cup. Case 013's ledger holds two of his goals: 43' vs Bulgaria and 90' vs Greece — 2 of Nigeria's 6 group goals, the squad's highest. Our ledger gives this row 82, 2 below the Brugge peak.
Everton, Premier League. Overall 81: durability 74 (the row above still 82), sprint speed 81 (previously 83) — the physical group begins refunding the ledger.
Beşiktaş, Turkish Süper Lig. Overall 82, only 2 below the peak; clutch 85 and goal hunger 89 still hold the high ground — the last row in which the ledger says "he is still quick".
Beşiktaş, the final row. Overall 79; durability 48 is the lowest cell in the table, 28 points down on the season before, with stamina at 70 that same year. At 26 the body left the contract before the foot did — no further rows follow.
Marks beyond the ledger
Club Brugge, Belgian first division — the six-season ledger opens here: overall 83, off-the-ball already 90. (BallFact player_seasons)
The unique peak season in our file: overall 84, finishing 88; the priciest single cell of the whole table is goal hunger HGRL 92. The ledger puts his summit a year before the World Cup. (BallFact player_attributes)
Cotton Bowl, Dallas: Nigeria 3-0 Bulgaria (attendance 44,132). Our ledger lists the goals one by one — Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55': three different men, not one hat-trick. His came on 43'. (Case 013 · L1)
Foxborough: Greece 0-2 Nigeria (attendance 53,001) — Finidi 45', Amokachi 90'. He finished the group stage with 2 goals, the machine-derived squad high; Nigeria's 6 goals were split among 5 names. (Case 006/013 ledger · L1)
Everton, Premier League. Durability steps down to 74 from the 82 band — the first refund in the ledger. (BallFact player_seasons)
Two seasons at Beşiktaş: overall 82 → 79, with the final row's durability at 48 (table low, a 28-point fall in one season). Retired 2002; the ledger records no further row. (BallFact player_seasons)
Why file a man the story misattributed
BONG WENG
Archivist
This ledger has recorded four shapes so far: the cliffs of the Fallen Stars, Milla's ascent, Higuita's long slope, N'Kono's unmoved plank. Amokachi is a fifth — a head start. The only peak in six rows is 1993/94, at Brugge; the year the world saw him gets 82 from our file. The easiest mistake in writing about players is to treat the famous year as the best one. Fame never consults the ledger.
About that match — Case 013 dissected the mechanism: a pleasing shape outranked the team list. "Hat-trick" fits any headline; "three different men" fits none; so the goal on 43' lost its author. This file asks nothing on his behalf, it only reads back what the ledger already says: Yekini 21', Amokachi 43', Amuneke 55' — three names, three men. One honest note stands: the attribute arc here is L3 editorial derivation. What holds is what the script confirms cell by cell — the unique 1993/94 peak, the finishing summit in the same season, off-the-ball 90 identical across six rows, and the 48 durability of the last — plus the two minutes living in a published ledger.
Case 013 tries "did Argentina fall apart when Maradona left?"; the three scorers of that Bulgaria match each hold a line in its ledger. This file keeps the 43' author; File #P00027 (Amuneke) keeps the 55' author; Yekini has no file in this archive, so his name holds no ledger — that is itself a record. The 1994 cluster meets at the "America 1994" focus page.
Note: club/league assignments and per-season attributes come from the BallFact database (attributes L3, editorial derivation); the two 1994 goals, their minutes, the scores and attendances are taken from the published Case 013 and its public CSV ledger, and every figure of that origin on this page is counted out of that file by this script, not typed. Per-season appearances, goals and standings are not filed and are not asserted; club honours, national-team caps and similar claims absent from BallFact-audited cases are neither used nor cited.
A hat-trick is a shape; the ledger is three names.
Data basis and confidence grading
S1 · BallFact Case 013 "Maradona 1994" — the Group D goal-by-goal ledger, the hat-trick correction and the three rumour mechanisms: /truth/maradona-1994/.
S2 · BallFact Case 013 public dataset /data/maradona-1994-argentina.csv (the only source of any match figure on this page; read line by line by this script).
S3 · BallFact Player File #P00027 "Amuneke" — the other author of that match, from 55': /players/amunike/.
S4 · BallFact Player File #P00019 "Salenko: Two Golden Boots, Seven Years" — another 1994 match ledger (Russia 6-1 Cameroon): /hidden-gem/salenko/.
S5 · BallFact players database player_seasons / player_attributes (slug=amokachi, 6 seasons × 44 rows = 264 attribute rows, all L3).
S6 · Dataset CSV: /data/players/amokachi.csv (per-season attribute snapshot).