IKE SHORUNMU: REVISTING THE BESITKAS SAGA

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Gotti
IKE SHORUNMU: REVISTING THE BESITKAS SAGA

Post by Gotti »

I think that Ike Shorunmu, having served our country at the national team level very well for about a decade, should regretably be allowed to peacefully enjoy his retirement from international football (and should not feel 'guilty' about it).

Nevertheless, I have never been able to cogently understand his debacle at Besiktas, especially as it occurred at a period (August 2001) that the Eagles appeared to be quite idle, and there ordinarily would not appear to be a club v country conflict.

In fact, the decisive this ruckus appears to occur in the Turkish off-season, after the Eagles had played its LAST competitive game for the year (July 29 WC qualifier against Ghana) -- and apart from the subsequently-scheduled October 2001 friendly against Japan, it last senior team game of the entire year.

Or was Coach Daum actually asking Shorunmu to philosophically renounce ALL international football?!
Turkish Daily News, August 4, 2001

Relations between Besiktas and its Nigerian international goalkeeper have almost reached breaking point

Shorunmu dilemma: Club or country?
Michael Severn

The statement which we reported yesterday by AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani that he is no longer willing to sign Brazilian players because they spend so much time away with their national team focuses attention once again on the eternal question of whether a player's first loyalty lies with his club or his country.

It also focuses attention on a case which is ongoing at the moment here in Turkey. Relations between Besiktas and its Nigerian goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu have almost reached breaking point.

Coach Christoph Daum believes Nigeria's international commitments could keep Shorunmu away from Istanbul for as long as two months this season and, although Shorunmu himself has said the period will be more like three weeks, Daum has issued the keeper with an ultimatum: "Play for us or play for your country. You can't do both."

Shorunmu is not willing to give up his international career. He recently said that in Nigeria the national team is sacred. Were he to pull out, he would be branded a traitor and he fears for the safety of family members back home in that event. He is seeking an interview with Besiktas chairman Serdar Bilgili, but, as the club's general manager Sinan Engin said on Thursday, "The likeliest outcome is that Shorunmu will leave." Shorunmu has not been training with the squad for a week and walked out of Daum's Thursday team talk early.

Daum has already done one u-turn on Shorunmu. At the end of last season he told the board that he did not want to retain the Nigerian and needed a replacement. He later changed his mind. Now he seems to have changed it again. He has been taking an interest in Slovakian goalie Miroslav Konig who plays in Switzerland with FK Basel and is also reported to have an unnamed Bundesliga keeper lined up should Shorunmu walk away.

Most players share Shorunmu's opinion that playing for their national teams is an honor and a duty. It also makes hard commercial sense -- success at a major tournament can increase a player's value when transfer time comes around. A few, mostly from the smaller nations, regard national team call-ups as a nuisance. Manchester United's Ryan Giggs, for instance, is notorious for being injured whenever Wales has a friendly. He plays in World Cup and European Championship qualifiers but for friendlies he is not there.

The problem is not so much with European players. The national federations across Europe schedule their league programs so as not to clash with World Cup and Euro qualifying and the number of friendlies for which clubs can be obliged to release men is limited.

With Africans and South Americans it is a different story. Qualifying matches often cut across the European season and they have tournaments of their own which are lengthy affairs. Many clubs right across the continent, for example, have found their preparations for the new season disrupted by the loss of key South Americans first to World Cup qualifying, then to the Copa America.

A case in point is Trabzonspor's new Peruvian signing Santiago Salazar who has only just arrived in Turkey. Olympique de Marseille general manager Bernard Tapie said earlier this summer that his club would never have made an offer for Galatasaray's Mario Jardel if it had realized that he would miss summer training to be with Brazil's Copa America squad.

This makes the point that it is advisable for clubs to check what a player's international commitments are likely to be before signing him. But the clubs do have a point when they complain about lengthy player absences. They, after all, pay the player's wages and are obliged to go on doing so even when he is away.

African nations in particular have shown Turkish clubs great courtesy and flexibility over the past few years by allowing them to release men late for national team duty so as not to have them miss important league games. But the problem is still there. We have seen many cases where flight connection problems with South America and Africa have led to players returning late. On a couple of occasions, the big clubs have even sent private planes to Africa to make sure their stars get back on time.

Given the increasing number of international fixtures these days and the ever-increasing length of the big tournaments, there seems little that can be done, though world governing body FIFA and the continental confederations ought to be looking for ways of tweaking the schedules to minimize the damage.

Meanwhile, it seems to us unfair that Shorunmu should be handed this stark choice between club and country. The players do not decide when matches take place. Nor do they have any control over the rules governing their release.
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Post by Naija fan »

I feel for Ike.
"It is not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you are not."
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balo
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Post by balo »

Sad indeed!
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original skeepolah
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Post by original skeepolah »

he is about that age of hanging up his gloves. If naija gets him, use hm as a back up. all this time and energy can find us a new goalie. He is old oohh!!!!!!!!!!!Surely we can find someone else.....
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Post by realtrouble »

Gotti

you answered your question

"was Coach Daum actually asking Shorunmu to philosophically renounce ALL international football?! "
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omonaija
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Post by omonaija »

Ike could have given Coach Daum a head! and see what happens after that. :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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