BY KUNLE SOLAJA

Twenty-six years ago today, Nigeria’s former international, Mike Emenalo narrowly missed getting eternal possession of the last shirt the legendary Diego Maradona wore as a footballer.

It could have been in possession of what could have been a memorable archival material, which could fetch fortunes if it is later put up for auction.

Sports Village Square recalls a story Emenalo told The Telegraph in UK some years back. He told the story of that June 25, 1994 match in which a Diego Maradona-inspired Argentina scored two goals in two successive free kicks by Claudio Caniggia to cancel the earlier lead Nigeria had had through Samson Siasia.

Argentina won 2-1. Emenalo had not realised at the time, but as he sat on a plastic chair outside the drug testing room in Massachusetts’ Foxborough Stadium – still in his kit, and totally exhausted – Diego Maradona was trying to tell him something.

Both had been randomly selected for the mandatory dope test. Hear Emenalo: “I was sat in the corridor with him and he [Maradona] was making jokes about it”.

“He had his shirt in his hand and he was looking at me. This was Maradona! I was just thinking about how I had a poor game. I was thinking I wasn’t going to play the next game against Greece.

“All the time he was looking at me. It wasn’t until I went home I thought, ‘He wanted to swap shirts’. Later when I got married I told my wife and she laughed. Can you imagine that last Argentina shirt? With Maradona’s sweat on it? I could have had that shirt in my hand!”

Emenalo was one of the Nigerian defenders that made life unbearable for Maradona in the match. While Emenalo passed his test. Maradona failed!

Maradona tested positive for ephedrine, was sent home from the 1994 World Cup finals in disgrace and never played for Argentina again. That sweaty blue and white shirt would have been Maradona’s last national team jersey, and quite a memento.

The Aba-born player-turned technical director, Sports Village Square gathered, regretted missing the opportunity.

Emenalo had an unusual playing career, which took in stints at the Belgian club now known as FC Brussels; Germany’s Eintracht Trier; Notts County; San Jose Clash; Lleida in Spain and finally Maccabi Tel Aviv where he played under Avram Grant.

He spent 85 days at Notts County in the 1994-1995 season, having been encouraged to play in England by international team-mate John Chiedozie. During that time he worked under Howard Kendall and Steve Nicol.

Emenalo joined County late in his career. “I grew up watching English football. I watched the Match of the Day which we got two weeks late! I always wanted to play in England.”

At Lleida he was managed by Juande Ramos, who approached him about joining him at Tottenham Hotspur in 2007 and Emenalo was close to doing so until Ramos procrastinated and Grant made him an offer to come to Chelsea. He began as a scout and was briefly an assistant to Carlo Ancelotti before becoming technical director in 2011.