Marius Obekop

Marius Obekop
Marius Obekop in 2014
Personnel
Surname	Marius Obekop Bedzigui
birthday	December 19, 1994
place of birth	Yaoundé ,  Cameroon
size	178 cm
position	midfield player
Juniors
Years	station
	Arsenal de Yaoundé
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2010–2012	Renaissance FC de Ngoumou	18 0(5)
2013-2015	New York Red Bulls	8 0(0)
2015	→  New York Red Bulls II  (loan)	22 0(6)
2016–	Orlando City B	0 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals) 2
2010-2011	Cameroon U-17	at least 30 (16)
2012-2014	Cameroon U-20	at least 02 0(0)
1 Only league games are given. As of January 16, 2016 2 As of January 16, 2016

Marius Obekop Bedzigui (* 19th December 1994 in Yaoundé ) is a Cameroonian football player at the position of midfielder , since January 2016 contingent of Orlando City B , the second professional team of MLS franchises Orlando City , in the United Soccer League under contract stands.

Club career

Career start at home

Marius Obekop was born on December 19, 1994 in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé and spent most of his youth career at the local sports club Arsenal de Yaoundé . As a 15-year-old, he made it into the men's squad of the Cameroonian first division club Renaissance FC de Ngoumou , around 50 kilometers south of the capital. He made his official debut against Caïman Douala on his 16th birthday when he also scored from outside the box. Initially trained as a striker and playmaker, he was mainly used as an attacking player in his home country and formed a congenial storm duo with Alix Bertin Ondobo Ebanga . In the team he was a regular player until his departure in 2012 and made 18 league games in his last year, in which he contributed five goals.

Change to North America

After US scouts became aware of the young Cameroonian in November 2012, after a preselection made by the Fédération Camerounaise de Football , and have watched him since, Marius Obekop and the Brazilian-Austrian striker Rafhinha changed on April 18, 2013 announced for the Major League Soccer franchise New York Red Bulls . Before that, he completed a successful trial training for the franchise in January 2013. He finally made his professional debut in North America about a month after signing the contract, on April 17, 2013 in a game against Sporting Kansas City , when he played 13 minutes as a substitute and made two shots. In the further course of 2013 he came under the New York Red Bulls record player and current coach Mike Petke to four other league short appearances and was in eleven other games without a substitute on the bench.

At the same time, he spent some of his time with the reserve team with play operations in the MLS Reserve League , in which he acted as a regular, was used in all twelve league games of his team and scored five goals. With the professional team, he celebrated the league title in the Eastern Conference and ranked with the team in first place in the overall table at the end of the season. Furthermore, the franchise won the MLS Supporters' Shield for the first time due to this placement , although it was just eliminated in the semifinals against Houston Dynamo in the subsequent MLS Cup Playoffs , but still qualified for participation in the CONCACAF Champions League 2014/15 .

Also in the Major League Soccer 2014 , Obekops missed out on the Red Bulls for the most part. After he had not sat on the bench in an official competitive game of the professional team for almost a year to the day, he came back to a short stint as a substitute player for the first time on September 29, 2014, where he was in the clear 4-0 defeat against the Toronto FC was able to convince with two shots on goal and was used again briefly on October 11, 2014 against Sporting Kansas City. The Cameroonian also made relatively few appearances in the reserve team, in which he only managed four championship games and one goal over the entire season. The Major League Soccer he finished with the team in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and made it in the subsequent play-offs to the Conference Finals, where they were narrowly defeated by the New England Revolution. In the play-offs, however, Marius Obekop was not considered by Mike Petke.

Loan to the new reserve team

Marius Obekop as a player in New York Red Bulls II (2015)

For Major League Soccer 2015 , Obekop was loaned to the newly formed reserve team New York Red Bulls II in the third-class professional league United Soccer League and came for this in their first competitive game in history, a 0-0 draw against the Rochester Rhinos on March 28th 2015, used. He scored his first goal for the team on April 4, 2015 with a penalty in a 4-1 win over Toronto FC II , the first victory in the team's young history. At the same time, however, the Cameroonian offensive player was also eligible to play for the MLS team and was on the substitute in four games in May and early June 2015. In the fourth of these games, a 2-4 defeat by Houston Dynamo, he came under Jesse Marsch to a four-minute short stint when he came on the lawn for Lloyd Sam . At the end of the season he was once again in first place in the Eastern Conference and the overall table with the New York Red Bulls and thus won the MLS Supporters' Shield for the second time in the history of the franchise and was again for the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League 2016/17 set. At New York Red Bulls II, he was the team's top scorer in 22 league games and with six goals until the end of the season, when he ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference and made it to the Conference semifinals.

Transfer to Orlando City B

After his contract with the New York Red Bulls had expired at the end of 2015, the major league soccer franchise Orlando City announced on January 13, 2016, the young offensive player for its reserve team Orlando City B , which will be playing in the United Soccer League from 2016 To have taken under contract, although it remained open whether he would also be eligible to play for the first division team.

National team career

In his career so far, Obekop has played in the Cameroonian U-17 team and in the Cameroonian U-20 national team. He had his first appearances for the U-17s in his home country in 2010, when he scored a total of twelve goals in 15 international appearances, surpassing all his team-mates. In the following year 2011 followed as many missions for the team, but his scoring risk decreased and he brought it to four goals. With the team, he is entering the qualification for the U-17 African Football Championship this year , which was to take place in Morocco the following year and without Cameroon's participation. In his debut year 2010, he was named the best striker of his team and won the silver medal with the team at the Nehru Cup . He was voted the best U-17 player in his home country back in 2009 and was one of the main performers in winning the Roger Milla Cup with four goals . After he played in two qualifying games for the U-20 African Championship in Cameroon's U-20 national team in 2012 and remained goalless himself, there were no further international appearances in the future.

successes

• Regular Season Winner of the Eastern Conference : 2013 and 2015
• Winner of the MLS Supporters' Shield as the team with the highest points in Major League Soccer: 2013 and 2015

Web links

• Marius Obekop in the soccerway.com database
• Marius Obekop in the database of MLSSoccer.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Marius Obekop Bedzigui on westafricanfootball.com (English), accessed on January 16, 2016
2. ↑ Red Bulls Sign Midfielder Marius Obekop and Forward Rafhinha , accessed on January 16, 2016
3. ↑ TRANSFERT: MARIUS OBEKOP CHEZ LES RED BULLS DE NEW YORK ( Memento of the original from February 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French), accessed January 16, 2016 
4. ↑ MATCH RECAP: Red Bulls II 0, Rochester Rhinos, 0 (English), accessed January 16, 2016
5. ↑ MATCH RECAP: Red Bulls II 4, Toronto FC II 1 , accessed January 16, 2016
6. ↑ Houston Dynamo 4, New York Red Bulls 2 | MLS Match Recap , accessed January 16, 2016
7. ↑ Orlando City B Deepens Squad with Seven Acquisitions , accessed January 16, 2016