He will now be missing chances for Burundi instead
Saido Berahino. Remember him?
The forward, born in the capital city of Burundi, Bujumbura, has had a very tough time of late.
Not only have Stoke City been relegated to the Championship, much to the delight of the vast majority of other supporters, but the former West Brom player hasn’t scored a single first team goal in his entire spell at the club.
In any competition.
That’s over two and a half years now without one.
Including missed penalties.
I don’t want to say that Tony Pulis cursed Berahino when the pair fell out at the Midlands club after Berahino tried to force through a transfer to Spurs, but that seems to be the only reasonable explanation for such a promising striker suddenly losing all ability to put the ball in the back of net.
It might not seem like it now but once upon a time, he was agonisingly close to making his senior debut for England after impressing at u21 level (10 goals in 11 appearances) and for Albion in the Premier League.
He had played consistently for all England age groups since u16 level, and therefore a cap seemed imminent after he was called up the senior squad by Roy Hodgson in 2014.
Unfortunately, his debut never materialised in qualifiers against Scotland and Slovenia. After losing the trust of manager Tony Pulis and suffering ongoing fitness issues his form dipped drastically, despite a fresh start at Stoke under Mark Hughes.
Berahino was part of the England squad that won the 2010 Under-17 European championship and looks set to make his first appearance for Burundi in their upcoming AFCON qualifier against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Gabon in September.
Berahino moved to England at the age of 10 to escape the Burundi Civil War that killed his father. He was granted asylum and eventually joined up with his mother, brother and sisters who had already moved to Newtown in Birmingham.
