Nigerian Football
PLAYERS’ MUTINY GREETED WESTERHOF’S DEBUT WITH SUPER EAGLES
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
There was a rebellion in camp on the day Clemens Westerhof was to take the Super Eagles out for the first time.
That was on 26 August 1989 as the team prepared to take off for their crucial World Cup qualifying match against Cameroon in Yaoundé.
The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) officials as well as journalists waited at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos for the players’ arrival from their Durbar Hotel (now Golden Tulip) abode to board the Hercules C-130 aircraft of the Nigerian Airforce, it soon dawned that something had gone amiss.
After nearly two hours of waiting for the players, Samson Siasia and two other players of the Super Eagles arrived in a car.
They had been sent by their colleagues to inform the other members of the delegation that the players would not travel except their allowances were paid upfront.
It was a crucial match for Nigeria, as the team needed at least a draw in the away match to progress to the final knockout stage for Italia ’90 qualification.
The players probably sensed it was an impossible mission and a loss might see them going back empty handed.
Before then, the morale-boosting message was that the rest of the team should play hard and see that the death of Samuel Okwaraji earlier in the month was not in vein.
After much persuasions and possibly granting of concessions, the players decided to leave their hotel for the airport.
A flight that was planned for 10am did not take off until late in the afternoon. After that problem was solved, another emerged when the players eventually arrived.
Clemens Westerhof, the new coach going for his first outing with the team insisted that Peter Rufai must not board the plane.
He was adamant that should Rufai be taken along, he would opt out of the delegation to Yaoundé.
Truly, since Nigeria’s first leg match with Cameroon at Super Eagles’ only match at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan, Rufai had not featured in Nigeria’s next four matches.
Eventually, Rufai was dropped. At the match in Yaounde, the following day, first choice goalkeeper, David Ngodigha passed out after a collision with a Cameroonian attacker in the 12th minute.
He had to be replaced by Alloy Agwu. Francois Omam-Biyik eventually scored in the 31st minute to earn Cameroon a 1-0 win.
For 31 years on, it remains Cameroon’s last win over Nigeria in regulation time.
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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