Nigerian Football
It’s 30 years today since mercurial Jay Jay Okocha played first match for Super Eagles
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
One of the globally acclaimed footballers to have come from Nigeria is Austin Okocha who is better known as ‘Jay Jay’.
Pelé at one time, named him among top 125 living footballers in the world. Significantly, only five players from Africa made the list.
He is easily the first Nigerian to captain an English Premiership side when Sam Allardice handed him the skipper’s armband at Bolton.
His magical international career began on this date 2 May, 30 years ago when Super Eagles manager, Clemens Westerhorf handed him a starter’s shirt in a World Cup qualifier against Cote d’Ivoire at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan.
He played for 58 minutes before he was substituted with Isaac Semitoje, a defender. That was probably to enable the team defend its single goal lead attained since the fifth minute when Rashidi Yekini found the net.
Cote d’Ivoire eventually levelled up through Abdoulaye Traore’s 70th minute penalty. Five minutes later, Ahmed Ouattara scored another goal to give Cote d’Ivoire a 2-1 win.
At Bolton, he was like a cult hero. “Jay Jay Okocha – so good they named him twice”, was a common chant by Bolton fans.
This was the attitude of fans towards the gifted Nigerian after the skilful midfielder played the lead role in securing the Premiership status in his debut season at the club.
The Nigerian helped Bolton to one of their most successful seasons ever during the 2003/04 campaign. For 131 years, Bolton Wanderers had wandered in the wilderness.
The 2003/04 was undoubtedly the best season the club ever had. Okocha was part of that historic moment. In the past, it was common to see Bolton Wanderers slipping into relegation almost every other season.
Before Okocha’s arrival at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton Wanderers hardly ever spent three consecutive seasons in the top division.
The high-point of his career in the Super Eagles was the scoring of the historical 1,000th goal of the Africa Cup of Nations. This he did at Monastir, Tunisia, when he converted a penalty kick to put the score-line at 2-0 in a 4-0 defeat of South Africa.
The miserable run of Akwa United and Ikorodu City came to an end after six games in the Nigerian Premier League this season. Both teams were initially glued at the bottom of the league table.
They now got respite as Akwa United beat Kano Pillar by 2-0 while Ikorodu City even did what could be considered an upset, beating Bendel Insurance 3-0.
Remo Stars bounced back to the top of the log after a 3-0 defeat of Nasarawa United. Shooting Stars are yet to get their rhythm this season, playing a barren draw with Enyimba in Ibadan.
Kwara United who got their first full points of the season last week after a 1-0 defeat of Remo Stars could not consolidate as they were beaten 1-0 by Abia Warriors.
Heartland under Emmanuel Amuneke are gradually recovering as they got a valuable away draw against El-Kanemi Warriors.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
It is 75 years since Nigeria’s national football team first played an international match. That was on 8 October 1949 when the first set of Nigeria’s assembly on their return voyage stopped over in Freetown and engaged Sierra Leone in an international football match. Nigeria won 2-0, setting a chain of positive results on 8 October.
The country never lost any competitive duel on that date. More significantly, the Super Eagles first qualified for the World Cup on an 8 October date.
That was in 1993 when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Algeria in the quest for USA ‘94 World Cup.
Nigeria became the first English-speaking African country to qualify for the World Cup. Another significance of the October 8 match at the July 5 Stadium, Algiers is that Nigeria were unbeaten for the first time by Algeria at home.
The only deviation from the 8 October Magic was in 2015 when Nigeria lost 2-0 to Congo in a friendly match.
Twenty-six years after Nigeria’s debut international match, one of Africa’s biggest football nations, Egypt fell to the October 8 magic, losing 4-0 to Nigeria in the last stage of the triangular World Cup qualifying series for Argentina ’78.
Up till October 15, 2013, when Ghana beat Egypt 6-1 in Kumasi, the October 8, 1977 duel with Nigeria remained Egypt’s biggest loss in a World Cup qualifying match.
Before the 1977 duel, Nigeria in 1963 played a friendly match with Liberia in Monrovia. The October 8 magic was active, even in an away match. Nigeria drew 2-2 in their very first encounter with Liberia. It was shortly after the team had, through a protest, upturned a victory by Guinea to pick Nigeria’s very first African Nations’ Cup ticket.
Little wonder then that when FIFA suspended Nigeria in 2010, the world governing body provisionally lifted the ban on October 8!
Nigeria on 8 October
- 1949 – Freetown (Friendly) Sierra Leone 0-2 Nigeria
- 1963 – Monrovia (Friendly) Liberia 2-2 Nigeria
- 1977 – Lagos (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 4-0 Egypt
- 1993 – Algiers (World Cup qualifier) Algeria 1-1 Nigeria… qualify for USA ‘94.
- 2005 – Abuja (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 5-1 Zimbabwe
- 2010 – FIFA, in apparent respect to the 8 October magic, provisionally lifted a ban imposed on Nigeria.
- 2011 – Abuja (African Nations Cup qualifier) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea. Although undefeated, Nigeria failed to make it to the 2012 African Nations Cup.
- 2015 – D.R. Congo beat Nigeria 2-0 in Visé, Belgium. The ‘October 8 Magic’ is finally broken.
Rivers United have launched themselves to the top of the log at the end of the match day 5 of the Nigeria Premier League. The Port Harcourt side beat Akwa United 2-1 to go afloat after initial leaders, Remo Stars crumbled to a 1-0 defeat at Kwara United in Ilorin on Sunday.
It was Remo Stars’ first defeat in the season. Rivers United are now with 13 points. Stephen Mayo put Rivers United ahead after 31 minutes. But it turned a temporary lead as Akwa United bounced back almost at the blast of the referee’s whistle for the second half.
Friday Apollos levelled up for Akwa United before Ndifreke Effiong Udo scored the winner in the 85th minute.
Sunday Results
- Kwara United 1-0 Remo Stars
- Rangers International 1-0 Abia Warriors
- Heartland FC 2-0 Niger Tornadoes
- Kano Pillars 2-0 Sunshine Stars
- Plateau United 1-0 Ikorodu City
- Rivers United 2-1 Akwa United
- Enyimba 3-0 Katsina United* Suspended
- Nasarawa 0-0 Bayelsa United
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