Nigeria’s Under-20 national team, the Flying Eagles, made soccer history in 1989 in Saudi Arabia. The team came from four goals down to defeat the team from U.S.S.R. in the quarter finals of the FIFA/ World Youth Football Championship. Nigeria’s Coach Tunde Disu described the performance in the match played in the Saudi city of Damman as the peak of his career. “I cannot forget every minute of the match because it was a big feat for a team to score four goals in less than 15 minutes. It was an unbelievable feat and I am so proud and fulfilled as a coach,” he said. Disu recollects what happened in the match in this interview with OLALEKAN OKUSAN 31 years after.

 

ANYBODY who witnessed the match at Prince Mohammad bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam will never forget the historic encounter. With half an hour to play, the Coach Tunde Disu-tutored side scored four times in 24 minutes to level  score; and went ahead to win the encounter on penalties.

Disu said a Saudi man who wanted Nigeria to beat the USSR gave him the tapes and clips of Russia matches.

“Before the match, the man approached me to ask what he could do to help my team beat the USSR because the Saudis wanted the USSR out of the tournament because they felt that Russia did not believe in God.

“A day to the tie, I did not sleep throughout the night because myself and my assistant, Kelechi Emetiole watched the video throughout the night. After watching their videos I was confident that we would beat them because I have seen them in-and-out.

”The Flying Eagles were made up of the Canada 1987 silver-winning U-17 team with other quality players like Chris Ohenhen and Samuel Elijah. Before we got to Dammam for the quarter final match against USSR, we were aware of the exploits of the Russian as they won their group matches with wide margins. Even when we came out for warm-up, they were so arrogant in their posture because they felt we would be a walk-over for them,” he said.

Disu added that the team was so sure it would edge out the USSR because it had the support of Saudi fans.

He continued: “So I picked my team for the tie and I decided to use Angus Ekeji in goal while our defender Chinedu Odiari chickened out and was not featured in  the match.

“The match started and in the first half we had conceded two goals. I also realised that they were making use of Oladuni Oyekale side to penetrate into our box. So in the second half, I replaced Angus with Emeka Amadi who initially refused to go in because he felt they had scored two goals and he would not want to concede. Unfortunately for him, he also conceded two goals early in the second half.

“Despite their  wide margin lead, the team had confidence and fitness. This was the reason why even when we were four goals down; I knew the players could still go a long way though I was afraid.

“With the kind of training the players got, I knew we can play well even if the match  was extended to more than an hour as they were very strong and fit.

“I would not say I had given up when it was 4-0  against us but I was scared but I knew where the fault was;  Odiari not starting in central defence. When it was 4-0, I called him and said ‘come and play otherwise we will go home with six goals ; and go and block that area where they are penetrating from’; so Odiari replaced Odukale in that position.

“Fortunately, the USSR became complacent after going up by 4-0 as their coach decided to remove their best striker Oleg Salenko.

“It was immediately after his substitution that we won a free kick. Chris Ohenhen was then our free kick specialist and I signalled to shoot straight into the net and he converted it.

“After the goal, we won another free kick and Ohenhen converted it again to put the match at 4-2. I then later started signalling to the players that there was no time to waste but with the 4-2 score line, I thought this was too bad if we go home with the score-line.

“Being part of the team that was whipped 4-0  by Brazil at Chile 87, the memory of that loss came to me during the tie against the Russians and within a few minutes, Samuel Elijah reduced the tally to 4-3.

“Nduka Ugbade, whom I referred to as a utility player because he can play in any position, was later deployed as the top striker and that tactic worked when he scored the fourth goal to put the match at 4-4 to the excitement of the Saudi fans.

“There was wild jubilation all over the stadium and a Nigerian official was running with the Nigeria flag all around the stadium when we equalised.

“During extra time, we had the chance to win the match but the players squandered the opportunities. During the penalty shoot-out, I decided to pick defenders, midfielders and an attacker to take the kicks. The final kick that won us the match was taken by Mike Onyemachara. I was so scared that he would lose the kick, and when he took the kick, the ball went into the middle of the post and fortunately for him, the Russian goalkeeper had left the centre for the ball to go in and we qualified for the semi-finals against the USA.”

 

THE MAN DISU

 

TUNDE Disu’s romance with football started at St Paul Catholic School in Ebutte Metta where he was part of the school team.

“I was also good at table tennis and I became the school champion. After school hours, we used to play football and there was a man known as Mr. Folabi, a fish merchant.

“He used to organise matches for us and watched us play. One day, he was invited to play at a bigger playground. So he took us to Onala Playground in Lagos Island and he later decided to form a team known as the Seven Brothers because we used to play seven-a-side at Onala.

“The team was made up of some of us from St. Paul and other players he had identified.

“After school he would pick us up and we would board a ferry from Ebutte Metta to Lagos Island to play matches. The team became famous on Lagos Island because we were made up of talented footballers dominated by pupils from St. Paul Catholic School

“In one of the competitions we played at Evans Square, I played so well as a left-footed striker that one man known as Mr. Lawal gave me a medal,” he said.

From St. Paul, Disu got admitted to Ahmadiya College where he continued with his  exploits on the pitch: “ After attending a Catholic school at primary level, I wanted to continue with another Christian school because my mother was a Christian but my father who was a Muslim,  advised me to go to Ahmadiya College and I agreed.

“Fortunately when some of my schoolmates at St. Paul realised that I would be going to Ahmadiya, they also decided to choose the school. So we all moved to Ahmadiya where we also played football together.

“I also became the school table tennis champion for three years as well as the Lagos State school champion for three year until I was dethroned by a student from Ansar-Ud-Deen College.

“It was by dexterity in sports that earned me the sports prefect of Ahmadiya College in early 1960s. In table tennis I was in the national camp alongside the likes of Kasali Lasisi as a junior player when Dr. Efunkoya was the chairman of Nigeria Table Tennis Association and Mrs Anibaba was the secretary of the association. They wanted to encourage young players then and they invited most of the states’ champions to the national camp. Two of us made the team to a tournament in Ghana and in Accra, I got to the semi-final. But I lost focus with table tennis to give my attention to football.”

As a student at Ahmadiya College, Disu was signed up by UAC Football Club where he featured for the team in the famous Oba Cup and it was here that he was scouted by national team’s selectors.

Disu represented Nigeria at the U-20 level in the annual Ghana/Nigeria match and featured for the national senior team between 1969 and 1971

He recalled: “While in school, teams used to come to our school on the final day of our examination to sign players. After my final examination, NEPA came calling and I joined them. Next, I got a call from UAC who also wanted me. Because the offer from UAC was better, I decided to join them and it was the same year we played the Oba Cup.”

But his romance with UAC did not last too long.  He left them for Nigeria Airways when they reneged on their promises: “When I got to UAC, I told them that I would like to further my education at Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) because I made my results in the final year examination in secondary school. But after we won the Oba Cup in my first season with UAC, I approached our team manager to remind him of their promise to help me secure admission at YABATECH.

“They said I should play for one more season before they can get the admission for me. I felt disappointed. When I was approached by Nigeria Airways, I did not think twice before joining them.

“While playing for Nigeria Airways, Disu was attached to Operations Department where he met many pilots and developed interest in becoming a pilot.”

He would later got admission to study un the United States  through one of his friends whose brother was a pilot with the Nigeria Airways.

On getting to America, Disu teamed up with Washington Waves FC where he played for one season before proceeding for a one-year course on flight engineering in line with his dream of becoming a pilot but stayed  back and studied management at Michael Evans University in New York.

He returned to Nigeria to join the National Sports Commission (NSC) under the leadership of late Isaac Akioye and it was from the NSC that he studied at National Institute of Sports (NIS) to become a certified football coach. He later joined the national team’s coaching crew.

Disu was an assistant coach under Coach Paul Hamilton national U-20 team that won bronze at FIFA World Cup in 1985 and he also assisted Christopher Udemezue to the ill-fated 1987 FIFA U-20  World Cup in Chile before taking charge of the team for the next tournament in Saudi Arabia 1989.

 

ADVICE FOR COACHES

 

THE former Ocean Boys of Yenagoa handler advised coaches in the country today to be patient and garner experience before going for the big jobs, even as he charged the NFF to make its technical department vibrant. .

“Some of the upcoming coaches are in haste to be in the limelight without the necessary knowledge to handle such posts,” he said. “They need to garner experience just like I was an assistant coach to two World Cups in 1985 and 1987 before I took charge of the team at the 1989 World Cup; these experiences really helped me in all my duties with the national teams.

“I am appealing to NFF to make the technical department vibrant in helping the national coaches. The technical department needs to work with the coaches by ensuring that they (coaches) attend regular courses that will broaden their knowledge.

“Although it is the sole responsibility of the coaches to select their players but it behoves on the technical department to know the players and ascertain when they are injury-free because some players have injuries which are known to the coaches,” he counselled.