Former Nigeria junior International Anthony Emoedofu has recalled with glee the unforgettable Miracle of Dammam match against the former Soviet Union at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia coupled with the role played by late business mogul Chief MKO Abiola that led to Nigeria’s second-place finish. He however lamented Nigeria’s miss at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, OJIEVA EHIOSUN reports.
Former Nigeria junior International Anthony Emoedofu is pained by the absence of the Super Eagles at next month’s Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup even as he blamed both the players and administrators for Nigeria’s absence at the Mundial.
Emoedofu said: “It is very annoying and disappointing that a football nation like Nigeria won’t be in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” the former Julius Berger winger who is currently a coach with the Edo State Sports Commission lamented. “I think the NFF, the technical team, the players including the Minister of Youth and Sports Development should all be blamed for painful Nigeria’s miss in Qatar.
“The NFF made a grievous mistake by sacking Gernot Rohr, the man was still working on the team even a month before the World Cup qualifiers. They should have allowed him to finish the job.
“The players that came into the squad during Austin Eguavoen were not good enough as the entire team were not 100 percent committed. They played that game in Abuja as if there was nothing at stake.
“After the first leg in Ghana, one would have expected our boys to put in their all, but they came playing like pregnant women as if going to the World wasn’t important.
“Another factor why we did not qualify for the World Cup is that some Super Eagles players have never played football under such an intimidating crowd, so you can see the aggressiveness of the Nigerian fans when the game ended. But for the intervention of the security agencies, it would have been a disaster.”
He, however, queried the appointment of Austin Eguavoen as a replacement for Rohr. “In business, there is no brother, forget the fact that Austin Eguavoen is my brother, before his appointment as interim head coach of the team, he was the technical director of NFF, they would have left him in that position.
“The players, coaches, NFF, and football stakeholders in Nigeria generally should all be held responsible for our failure to qualify for Qatar 2022.
“We must not dwell on sentiment because that was not the right time for Eguavoen to bring in those players. The main issue is that those players were not just committed and I personally feel they sabotaged his efforts.”
On his assessment of the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF, he said: “We thank God for Amaju Pinnick. There is nothing without an end.
“He is from the south-south zone but Pinnick did not represent us well. I am very happy for Ibrahim Gusau who has just been elected as NFF President.
“I hope he will learn from the mistakes of his predecessor because he has been in the federation for quite a while as such he must have learnt a lot from his masters on how to manage a football house as big as NFF. “
Emoedofu further counselled Gusau: “If he wants to succeed and rescue Nigeria football from the bad shape we are now, the first thing he should do is to carry stakeholders and all aggrieved members along.
“He must shun ethnicity in his appointment and job should be given to people on merits, not on ethnic grounds. He must try as much as possible to put personal interest aside; he shouldn’t make the mistakes of his predecessors while the interest of the players and the coaches must be prioritized.
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“This thing called quota system in the selection of players to national teams should stop. If one geo-political zone can produce 10 good players in all categories of our football, so be it. Again top government functionaries should stop imposing players on national team managers.
“Invitation to the national camps should be by merits not on who you know. Nigeria coaches should not be rated low below their foreign contemporaries. Coaches should be assisted to go for upgrading their resume abroad.”
Meanwhile, the fast-paced winger in his heyday has recalled with glee his breakthrough from the grassroots to the national sphere following his spectacular performances with the junior national teams.
“Before I was invited to play for Nigeria, I had tested a lot of competition outside Nigeria,” Emoedofu, who is one of the success stories of the then Youths Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), further said.
“I’d played in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway but that did not give me an automatic shirt when I was invited to the junior national team.
“In the process of actualizing my dream, I came back to my state in Bendel and played for them at the National Sports Festival and won gold at Kwara ’85.
“It was there I was invited to the U- 17 team known as Golden Eaglets for trials. When I got to the camp in Lagos for the first time, there were more than 70 players that came from different states for the trials.
“For a period of two months, I was not given the chance to train with the team because in the process they were decamping people daily. Even when they play friendly with other clubs they will drop people and replace them with new invitees.
“God’s grace came upon me one early morning as the then coach Ganiyu Salami called me and said, how long have you been in this camp,‘ I said four months’ he just shouted but on a fateful day they had a friendly match with Rainway FC of Lagos.
“The next word that came out of his mouth is ’Tony, you are playing today. Could you believe that I played that game and scored two undisputed goals? From there, I started to play all the friendly games and did very well. So when the qualifiers came for the junior World Cup, I made the squad.
“The first qualifying game we played was against Ghana in Accra, so I said to myself now that I have the privilege to put on the green and white to represent my country, within me I laughed and said to myself it is either do or die.
“Then the big desire and passion to play for my fatherland kept my mind occupied. I was not thinking about the money, but the passion, pride, fame, and joy of representing your country were what ignited me.
“ Look, at that time there was no money, but I was happy and passionate about serving my country. Look let me say this, among the people invited to camp I was not the best but I made good use of the opportunity and played with all my strength, soul, body, and mind.
“The match in Accra was very tough but we won the game and the only goal was scored by me for us to qualify for Canada. That was how I played all our games and won the MVP in the Nigeria/Australia quarterfinal match. So my contributions to that team were excellent and outstanding.
“That World Cup really exposed me to many things. Immediately after we came back from Canada, clubs started looking for me. So I played for Julius Berger, Udoji United, and Bendel Insurance among others.
“From there I was invited to the U- 20 National team for Saudi ’89 which Nigerian football fans nicknamed the Miracle of Dammam. Saudi ’89 experience to me was both bitter and sweet. Sweet in the sense that our game against Russia in Dammam was really a miracle.
“So many things happened in that epic game. When we were four goals down in the first half, Chief MKO Abiola and the late Head of State General Sani Abacha, came into the dressing room to talk to us. He said: “Guys four goals are too much. You don’t need to win, all you need to do is go into the second half and redeem our image.
“Just go into the pitch and believe in yourself and just score only two goals for us, we will be happy.’ “After addressing us, he put his hands into his Agbada and brought out bundles of foreign currency (pounds), shared it among us, and promised more if we can redeem Nigeria’s image.
“So, we went into the field telling ourselves that we can do it and make Nigeria proud as well as make more money.
“At the resumption of the second half, we did exactly what we promised, scored four goals and won the game at the end of the duration, went into penalties and won, and then went on to play against Portugal in the finals.
“In fact, that was my first time to see pounds. After the match, Abiola started to spray cash on us. It was a harvest day for us. Immediately we won that match against Russia, the Stadium was agog with celebration.
“The entire team was invited to a shopping mall to pick things of their choice. To me, it was the best competition for me in my career.”
“In the final against Portugal, it was not a good one because we lost to them. But I must say that MKO Abiola’s pounds boosted our morale.
“Today, you cannot find an ardent pillar of sports like MKO Abiola in Nigeria. Those who are there now are after what they can acquire for themselves to the detriment of the players. Everybody out there in NFF is looking for how to milk the board dry, not minding the consequences. The days of good sports administrators are gone in Nigeria. Only God will help us,” he said.
For upcoming footballers, he advised: “Anyone that wants to play football should be passionate about it. They should stop deceiving themselves.
“Again our national team managers should focus on our local league players instead of dissipating energy on half-baked foreign-based players.
“The foreign-based players are not ready to give their all. Of course, you won’t blame them because Nigeria is not worth dying for.
“The days of African players giving their best for their countries are gone. Corruption has taken over all segments of our country. The quest for money has eaten deep into us and my children can never play for Nigeria,” he lamented.