Chidi Nwanu on Super Eagles

[wanaj0]

Don't know if this was posted previously. It is an interesting piece on happenings in the SE. Hope OLOYE can corroborate some of the stories especially the 88 Olympics.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/08/the ... idi-nwanu/

There was mafia in Eagles —Chidi Nwanu
August 15, 2020
…Recalls mystery injury that almost took his life
…Says I made Hoener apologise to me at the Seoul ’88 Olympics camp
…Recalls his many battles with late Stephen Keshi

Chidi Nwanu’s story in the Super Eagles could be likened to a Nollywood movie. From the remote hamlets of Ufuru in Mbaise, Imo State, Chidi’s skills took him to uncharted lands. His confidence, rare bravery and a divine touch gave him special favours that were beyond human comprehension.

In this first of a two part chat with Weekend Editor Onochie Anibeze and the Deputy Sports Editor Jacob Ajom, Chidi shares his experience in Aba, Owerri, Lagos, Europe and above all, in the Super Eagles. He spoke without let from his base in Belgium. It’s a collector’s item. Read on:

How did Chidi Nwanu start his football career?

I began in the usual way, playing on the street, going to the bush and cutting the rubber plant and allowing the fluid coming out of the tree to flow on our bodies. We rolled it together and formed a ball and we would start kicking it as a ball, because then, we couldn’t afford a ball.

I believe whatever you are doing, your talent cannot be quenched by anybody, if you know you have it. Your talent becomes the driving force to waging war against every obstacle, both from family and from friends. It has so much power, it breaks every obstacle, every rule in order to make it through. In my own case, they used to flog me; refused to give me food at night and things like that. I would promise never to play football again, but the next day, I would be out there playing again. I tell people, when you are called for something, it is different from career.

In the case of career, you pay for it, but in calling, you are made. So when you mix up a career with calling, you can never find a balance. That was how I started playing football. You could say that, that calling was so great. There was nothing anybody could do to stop me, because I was enjoying my game. I was playing with pleasure because I was called to play football. Right now I have pleasure being in the ministry because I was called to do it.

It is like when you are dancing the music you know, you never get old in it. So you see, in football, the coach can never tell you how to play football; he cannot teach you the commonsense of football because it is all about talent. The most a coach can tell you to do is to enable you to be fit and to guide you and the team; and once you are not fit, your talent would be wasted.

When I started in elementary school, I had games masters from different schools that watched me play. They all wanted me to go to their schools. They came to my mother and asked for my hand to come and play for their schools on scholarship.

However, my mother was prepared to pay my school fees so long as I didn’t play football. So, it was that hard but still, it was unavoidable because anytime I got into the field, there was no further discussion. That was how I started playing for schools to sports festival, representing Imo state at the National Sports Festival where we won a silver medal. That was how I began playing for local clubs.

Which school were you playing for?

They had these funny names that you hardly knew the real name of your school. There was a Protestant School in our community called CMH. But we knew it was a community school located at Ufuru, in Mbaise.

That was the school I started before going to Community Secondary School Obise. When I got there, I saw the school and it was so odd. I went in there, they checked my credentials, all were okay. But I passed through a school along the road and the beauty of that school caught my eyes. When I was returning, I went in there to see my elder brother who was schooling there. When I was about leaving, one of the students from my village saw me and I told him where I was coming from.

He said no, he would introduce me to the principal, one Mr J. B. Morka, whom he said loved sports and would likely want me to enroll there so I could become one of their players. He took me to him and the same day, when the principal saw me he asked, ‘you play football?’ and I said yes. The same day he registered me and I became their student. So I changed school without any protocol just because I could play football.

I became great in the school, making many friends. In those days we played without shoes. That is a different thing altogether because we felt the leather, we had contact with the ball itself without shoes. We knew what is called instep, outside the leg, etc. You knew how to position your foot and the amount of pressure you apply in order for the ball to get where and who you were directing it to.

This is what the talent in you dictates, nobody tells you how to do that. Footballers are born, not made; just like kings. Anybody who learns football cannot be as good and talented as one who was born to play football. In a nutshell, that was how I started playing football.

After your secondary school, which club did you start with in the local scene?

I started with Mbutu Vipers. We had one Christian Okpara from a neighbouring village who had a Bernly Motorcycle, he would come pick me to the training ground where we trained and played matches until one day, I saw one of my big uncles who lived in Aba. He just came home. I asked him if I could follow him to Aba, he said yes. When we got to Aba, he showed me a school where a club used to go and train there. He told me he didn’t know them. He just took me to the place and left. I said okay,

He left me there and promised to come back and pick me up. I never saw him again till today.

When I went to Aba, I didn’t know anybody. Luckily, the team showed up. I was always with my training kits. I was already warming up before they arrived. They soon noticed me and called me. They asked, which club was I coming from? I told them I was there for screening. After screening, they put me in a two-side training session. After the training, they made arrangements for me that night that they were going to sign me on. That was how I started with one of the team’s managers. I slept at his place for a few days before I could locate some of my friends. So that was how I moved from Mbutu Vipers to Aba. That was how I left home and from that moment, I never went back home as that journey took me to Europe.

Which Aba club was this?

That was PZ Football Club of Aba. It was there I began my career before we came to Enyimba, which was handled by late coach Cyril Asoloka. By this time, Benji Okorogu was moving from Enyimba to Rangers who was later called to the Green Eagles.

So you were going to replace Benji Okorogu at Enyimba?

Yeah. We played the same position in the central defence, the last man of the defence, he had already signed for Rangers then and moved to the national team. There was a lot of life there, with the likes of Ihanakpor, Mike Emenalo and Benji Nzeakor(skill workshop), all of them were in Enyimba. So while they were leaving, Coach Asoloka came while we were training with PZ and said to the officials that I belonged to him, not them. He took me from the training ground and said, ‘Chidi, bia eba(Chidi, come let’s go). And that was all.

By the time I got to Enyimba, we had Chimezie Nwanaga, Louis Akudo, and a lot of others who were men. We destroyed Spartans to win the state FA Cup. Then they dissolved the club and pooled all of us into Spartans. That was how I came back to Owerri.

In that place I was actually cruising to die. I wasn’t supposed to be alive today. One of the players called me aside and said I was still a small boy, I should not wear the captain’s band and that if I wore it, it was going to cost me my life. I took it for a joke. People believed too much in the fetish things. When the stress became too much, I pulled the captain’s band and put it on my right arm(which was unusual).

Why did you do that?

It just came to me by inspiration. Initially, I rejected it, but Coach Isaac Nnado insisted I must be the captain. But that trouble led me to a medical doctor who wrote that in a matter of weeks, I would be dead. What happened to Sam Okwaraji, would have happened to me long before the Okwaraji incident. We were on the field playing. I was not with the ball and nobody touched me nor was there anybody close to me. Suddenly, my leg broke. This is something I would like to talk about in a special way and bring some insight, so as to help Nigerian footballers, because if you look at the rate our footballers die in their prime, you begin to ask yourself questions ‘what is behind it?’

Some of them that are dead, their senior colleagues are still waxing strong elsewhere. ‘

What really happened? Was it during training or in a match that this happened?

It was in a football match against a team I cannot recall now. I was standing alone on the pitch and I felt as if somebody hit my leg from behind. And my leg was broken. I started vomiting blood. Meanwhile I didn’t see anyone hit me. It was my right leg. I didn’t know what hit me. Till this moment I don’t know what happened. My people took control of it. I started going for treatment on my leg. By that time the Doctor had written that I was going to die within days or weeks.

Why did the Doctor say that?

He said I had a deformed heart, incurable heart disease, that I had heart malfunction; terrible things that didn’t give me hope at all. I looked at myself and I wondered that since I started playing football I never had any injury, why now? How come overnight? That is an area most of us don’t have an insight.

There is a god of football and most people have not come to know that. I will avoid that because I don’t want to lecture on that here. All I know is that my leg got broken in that match and the doctor didn’t give me any hope of surviving.

So what did you do?

When I came out of the hospital, my maternal grandfather and my mother’s eldest sister took me to a place where they would treat the leg. That was something I had never experienced in my life before. I saw death with the pain as I collapsed. But finally, they got me walking again and my leg began to mend, to the extent that I could stamp my foot to the ground. I began to learn to walk with it. I was told never to use it to do any exercise, saying that if I tried anything of that nature it would send me to my early grave.

At some point, I began to feel strong. So, in the night, when people were beginning to go to bed, I would create space within the parlour and would begin to jog. I did that every night as my calling was still pushing. Nobody told me to commence training but I felt the urge, that push within me. When my mom, my grandfather went to the farm, I would come out in the afternoon and begin to jog, do some things I used to do. But once they were back, I would behave myself and be seen as the good boy. That was hope and it showed that the doctor’s report was politically motivated.

I began training every night until the time came when children in the village started gathering around me whenever I was training. I became a coach/player. I began to build up again and when the whole thing came down, I saw I could move again. Then I said to myself, ‘now is the time for me to move’. So, from home, I moved back again to Aba. This time, I joined Falcons Football Club of Aba.

By then you had lost your place in Spartans?

Yeah. They never cared about me. Nobody came to check me, nobody cared about how I was doing. As far as they were concerned, I was finished. In short, they pronounced me dead. Some of the players told people that I was a dead man, that I was no longer in this world. That was exactly what they told them. It was almost two years but by then, my condition had improved for me to play.

It was at Falcons Football Club that I played myself to limelight again and it was there I became born again. It was there the Lord met me and I had a covenant with Him. My covenant with the Lord was that He should take me to the top again so that it doesn’t look like because I couldn’t make it in football then I chose the way of religion. That was the covenant. It was sealed.

From that third division, ACB came for me. That was how I landed at ACB and there we had coach Patrick Ekeji. I had it rough with him. Our exchanges were hot, and I told him that I would show him that I was from Mbaise. . . He was shocked to hear that. He didn’t know me, neither did I know him, but we came from the same village.

It was a challenge. He was asking me to do something and I told him, coach, I use my own initiative in certain situations, outside what you have taught me. You can teach me to use the right leg to kick the ball when it is coming from this way. What if it is coming from the other direction, do I have to turn myself round and still use the right leg?

That would be stupidity. At this point, he insisted he was the coach. I said, yes, but I am the player. Your talent would determine the initiative you use in a situation on the field. I am so shocked that many people that play football today are so unintelligent that sometimes, even when they score, it is out of sheer luck, not that they created it. However, I admit there’s luck.

At that point of our argument, he said he was the coach, he hired me to play for him. I told him he saw that I was good, that was why he came for me. I said I was talented, that was why he came for me. You can’t go on the road and pick a roadside mechanic to come and play for you; you can only go for a player. So it was in that hot exchange that he began to question me, ‘Which Mbaise do you come from?’ I told him the clan; ‘from Ufuro, that is Ehito village’. Then he knew we were from the same village, when he said, ‘come, you are from the same village with me?’ And we started talking and that was it. I believe it was meant to be.

After that, when we went into training, he began to see that my game was different from what he had seen. That day he summoned a meeting and offered me the captain. Everywhere I went, there was that leadership aura around me but I always try to run away from it. I know that leaders are born but not made. A leader is one that leads people, stays in front of the rest, while a ruler is the one that rules people, he pushes others, while he stays behind.

They are not the same thing. When a leader is leading the people, he stays ahead but when a ruler is ruling the people he pushes them to danger. That is very dangerous because that is what is happening in Nigeria today. All that we have in politics today are rulers. They just want to rule you by all means, if you disagree, they crush you by all means. But a leader listens to the cry of the people, he has the wisdom with which to solve problems that will come around and knows how to neutralise them.

Why am I saying all this? It is because when you look at our World Cup campaign in 1994 there was a situation when Roberto Baggio had almost scored a goal, he was just alone and I didn’t know what next to do. Out of instinct, I had to go up in the air, in a manner that I used my chest and just pushed the ball in a way it would touch the back of my head and away from him. And that saved the situation. These are not things you planned to do. It is at that moment you do what you have to do to save a situation. That goes a long way to show who you are in that football game. These are things that are lacking now.

From ACB, how did you move to Europe?

From ACB, when the national team were in Germany, preparing for the Seoul ’88 Olympics. They had left and I didn’t know what was happening. I had no clue. But what did I do. I went to my tailor and asked him to make a suit for me. I had a complete suit with a tie and shoes to match. I told my colleagues that the suit would be for my journey. I had no clue from where the journey was going to come. I just made it for a trip. I never heard anybody do a thing like that. Suddenly, somebody showed up at ACB camp and said, where is Chidi Nwanu?

I said yes, how can I help you? And he said, ‘prepare to travel’. I told him travel to where? I didn’t have a passport. He promised to work on one and the next night, the passport was ready. I went to my tailor, took my suit and returned to the ACB camp and dressed up. Then I told my colleagues, Alloy Agu, Uche Okafor, Victor Ezekwesili and others that I would not come back here again.

They said what? I repeated, I would not come back here again. Then I travelled to Germany. I landed in the morning and they took me straight from the airport to the training ground. Immediately I arrived Coach Paul Hamilton said just change.

He gave me military training that morning. I never had any sleep on the plane the whole night neither did I have breakfast on arrival. We finished that training around 10 O’Clock that morning. It was tough as Coach Manfred Hoener was riding a bicycle at full speed and we would be chasing him, like military training. We trained three times a day.

Meanwhile, when Manfred Hoener saw me he said, ‘I don’t need you. It’s not you I was expecting, Chidi. Well, you train with the team, let me see’. Every evening somebody would go. They decamped somebody every evening.

That was my fate. Every night I packed my bag because I felt I was never wanted. But whenever I went out for training, I trained with all my heart and did what I was supposed to do, putting in everything I had because that was what I knew how to do best. I organised the defence and when things stabilised I joined the flow of the game.

Every night I packed, until they played me in the right back position and Bright Omokaro was decamped, in the central defence, Sunday Eboigbe was decamped, left back, I can’t remember who was also decamped there, but they played me in almost every position in the defence to the midfield. It was only in the attack that I was not played during training matches.

So it happened that in every position I played, I did better than the person there. And what was the secret. The secret was that when I started playing football I used to play as a flank player. You know that requires speed, and in the midfield. I played in almost every position on the football field. So while in camp, my experience came to play.

But my proficiency on the pitch did not go down well with a lot of people, including some of your colleagues. There was nothing one of them did not write against me. A particular journalist(name withheld) was all out for me, questioning, ‘who is this Chidi Nwanu that is decamping every established star from camp?

He said, this guy(Chidi) is climbing his age ladder faster than he should.’ That was the language he used. He hated me for it. He never wrote anything good about me. I may not have known him in person but I will never forget that name. There was nothing like encouragement, nothing newsworthy or anything good about me, as far as he was concerned.

Eventually, as I was packing, Manfred Hoener was passing by. He knocked on my door. I opened the door and he asked me, what are you doing? I said, that is probably why you are here; to ask me to go, since you never wanted me, from day one. But his response startled me. ‘I am here to ask you to go with me for dinner. We go to the restaurant and eat together.’ It was a surprise to me because he told me he didn’t want me. And at the end of the day, every night they would call names of people to go and my name would not be there. It was shocking to me.

So you went to the restaurant to eat with him?

We went to the restaurant but I refused to sit with him. I told him to eat with fellow officials and leave me alone. I am a private person and didn’t need anybody to lean on. I knew I had to earn whatever position I aspire to be in. I don’t want to have that kind of connection for special favours. If I deserve to be considered fine, if I am not okay forget me. But I knew I was okay. After the dinner, in the morning we went for training.

Hoener called the whole team together, very unlike him, he said he had one request to make. He asked the whole team to help him apologise to Chidi, that he was sorry. He told the players that I told him that he had told me that I was not the one he was expecting. And that now, I had proved to him that I was the man he could not do without.

The whole team held me up and Hoener came to me and shook my hand, and congratulated me. He said, ‘you have the heart of a lion. You have disproved me and today I doff my hat for you, Chidi. So, what happened? That thing boomeranged instantly. The late Stephen Keshi was no longer needed in the central defence. Manfred Hoener told Keshi, in the presence of some Nigerian journalists who were in Germany in plane language that I don’t need you anymore because I have got a good replacement for you, a better one. So that became the beginning of the hatred, the animosity that held me back from coming to the national team again especially as Hoener left Nigeria. And it almost took my life.

You know before, there were so many dirty games going on in Nigerian football, where a player would hold the entire national team to ransom; where they would say a club was asking for some money from $10,000 to 20,000 dollars or more for the release of a player otherwise, they won’t let him go. And NFA would come to Europe for release of players with thousands of dollars.

When I came in, that door was trending and they wanted to kill me for it. Onochie you remember when I came home when they were preparing for Tunisia ’94.

You remember they sent a search party to search for me in Lagos. It was through you I gave them my farewell message. It was tough because my life was at stake. It was my man at the FRCN that informed me. My mother heard it and called me and was crying, begging me, why not leave them. I told her I was not there. That was the extent to which they went to get rid of me. They even told the government to get rid of me. They did everything they could to destroy me but God was on my side. So he was dropped from the Olympic team because of me.

Was Keshi in the Seoul Olympic camp in Germany?

No, no, no. He was expected to just walk in as the big boss, before the Games. But Hoener told him he didn’t need him again. He kind of lost it there.

So after the Olympics, which I played all the matches, even though we did not do well in that Olympics because things were so disorganised…I have never seen that kind of preparation before. At the end of the day, while we were training in Germany, a club came for me and promised that after the Olympics they would come and fetch me from Nigeria. That was what happened. After the Olympics I came home and a few days later, the club came.

What was the club? Westerlo?

No, it was a Dutch manager that came. I had to leave Germany for Westerlo in Belgium. I was supposed to be in Dutchland but they said there was a club that needed me immediately in Belgium. That they needed a player in central defence urgently, that was how I left Germany to Belgium.

What was your first club in Europe?

My first official club in Europe was Westerlo. I played in that club for two years before I left on loan. I was loaned to Diest Football club, a second division club at that time. I was still a Westerlo player when Beveren came for me, Diest directed them to Westerlo. From there I went to Beveren. Till date, that is the highest transfer money Westerlo have ever realised from the sale of a player. Paul Uzokwe and Mark Anunobi were there too. Yisa Sofoluwe, Friday Ekpo all were in Belgium too.

From Beveren I moved to Anderlecht, during the preparations for the World Cup

Anderlecht was one of the biggest teams in Europe then, how did they come for you?

They had no choice because my coach in Beveren then, Johan Boskamp left Beveren to Anderlecht and their defence was bad and he recommended that they should come for me. By then, a club from Columbia also wanted me, but I hesitated.

I didn’t want to go. Another team from Mexico too came and I almost left with that one before Anderlecht came. I saw that they had good arrangements and plans for me. I then went to Anderlecht. It was a big club, everything was well arranged, good plans. They were winning championships every year. I was able to win two cups, one Super Cup and we got to the quarter final of the Champions League.

In Anderlecht I got an injury and when I felt I had recovered, well enough to play, I started on the bench. I told the coach, I was not a reserve player. If I start on the bench, that means you don’t need me, whether you are losing or winning. I said I got to start. I had to put up a loan request. Eventually, they sent me on loan to Sint Triuden. It was a six-month loan. When we played a cup match against Anderlecht we defeated them on their home ground. Everybody began to talk.

We defeated them there and I stood like a rock. One day Johan Boskamp came to Beveren, and he said, Chidi come. Come with me. I know they like you here because you enjoy a cult status here. Everywhere I went in Beveren and when fans saw me there was this ovation that erupted wherever we went.

Where did you have your best football in Europe?

Beveren and Anderlecht.

How did you return to the national team?

I came for a few qualifiers against Ethiopia and Kenyia or so. I also came to play another match which I was benched, and another against Angola that ended up in the death of Samuel Okwaraji. At that particular match, something showed up in the dressing room. Money was being collected for a player. And I said, that can never happen here. Nobody ever takes a dime from me.

Why was the person collecting money from players?

They said they were the ones arranging for the players to come and play for Nigeria. There was a mafia group in the Eagles, and in Nigerian football. There is also the culture of corruption there that needs to be investigated, terrible corruption. It has been there for years and somebody needs to stand up and expose it.

Was it players that were collecting money from players or the coach?

Players, about four of them I know, three of them are late and one is still alive, that came up with that idea. It was only me and Etim Esin that refused that nonsense. The rest paid. From there I was again removed from the national team. I was not recalled for some time and I was not surprised.

[wanaj0]

VERY HOT

PART 2

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/08/yes ... -explodes/

Yes, there was bribe-taking in Eagles, Chidi Nwanu explodes



…Recalls when he challenged Westerhof, Keshi, Omeruah

In this concluding part of our interview with former Nigeria international, Chidi Nwanu, he takes us through the politics that shaped Nigeria’s campaign at the USA ’94 World Cup, why Nigeria football has stagnated and steps to take to improve the playing personnel in the national team.

The former central defender spoke with Weekend Editor, Onochie Anibeze and Deputy Sports Editor, Jacob Ajom. Read on:

After the ’88 Olympics, Manfred Hoener left. So, the mafia you talked about took control again and you were left out for long time?

I was blocked completely because the person I took his place came back and made sure I was never invited again. And that went into a lot of things. When finally this call came, I said, Okwaraji died, I knew what some players said when we came together to talk about his death. One of the key players opened his mouth inadvisedly to say things that you could charge him with the death of that young man. When you look at somebody that died and you say, “him wan show power. Him wan show say him get power”.

That is stupidity, from somebody who was supposed to be a leader. I took a lot of s- -t there and one day I will say what I know about the national team. Most of them that were with the team in 1994, were responsible for robbing Nigeria of the World Cup. They put Nigeria football where it is today. All of you are there looking like you don’t know what is happening. I am not happy that we lost the World Cup. We had everything to win that World Cup.

If I open the World Cup chapter, you won’t go anywhere until Jesus Christ comes. There are a lot of pretenders who lacked the moral discipline otherwise we could have gone far in that World Cup. We lacked the discipline. And the leaders also failed because they could not organise the team when discipline broke down.

In a Senegal ’92 qualifier, I confronted coach Westerhof that I did not come here to be on the bench. I was sure he had been brainwashed. They must have told him, invite him and put him on the bench, frustrate him and the whole people would say at least you tried.

I wondered why most of the players (in the Eagles’ defence then), who could not even make the bench in their clubs were made to look like super stars at home. I, who played every week in Europe and a regular feature in the competition’s best eleven would come to warm the bench for them in the Super Eagles. Even some who featured in amateur clubs, and were not even regulars in their amateur clubs, they were preferred here by the national team coaches. It’s never done, it was clear injustice. There was one of them who was clubless, but each time I came to Nigeria he was one of the super stars and I was the bench warmer. How could that be?

I challenged Westerhof in that match, and he said to me, “My team is made up of stars and you are not a star,” and I said to him, ‘Westerhof listen to me, when the going gets tough, only the tough gets going and only the tough people will last. You will come for me’. I left. Until that World Cup in 1994. Even the dogs on the streets, were crying go and take Chidi. Everybody was crying for Chidi because they observed Keshi was getting old and Chidi was the best option.

One day, I got a call from one army captain. He introduced himself as captain so, so, so from this place. And I asked, ‘What can I do for you sir?’ He said, Chidi, I want to tell you that the whole Nigerians believe in you. The national team camp is open for you, and you can walk in any time. I told him, ‘no sir. It does not work that way. I need to talk with the coach because you are not the coach’. They invited Westerhof to my place and he came, we sat and didn’t speak much. He said, I want you to come and join the team. Everybody is talking about you and I have received good recommendations from European coaches about you. I need you now. I said okay, I am coming. That was how I went back to the national team.

Even when I came back they planned to rig me out of the team again. It was real war. It was in the USA ’94 World Cup, while we were training 2-a-side that supporters walked into the pitch and told the coach, that number 3, let him play in Team A and let Keshi go to Team B. At that point, Westerhof had no option but to effect the change. Instantly, there was a massive difference. And when he did that, they ganged up against him and almost overthrew Westerhof at the World Cup camp in the USA. He was out of camp already. It became a shameful thing to the officials.

The Secretary-General of the NFA then, Alhaji Sani Toro knocked on my door. When I ushered him into my room, I told him I was surprised that the FA Secretary would come to me in my room. He told me the problem. He said Westerhof had left camp; that a group of boys had pursued him and asked Bonfrere Jo to take over.

It was Bonfrere that backed the rebellion against Westerhof in America and from that moment, I didn’t want to have anything to do with him(Bonfrere) anymore. I had his record on the tips of my fingers. He was coaching a second division team in Holland, just behind me here. He challenged the referee, because the team was doing badly, he was suspended for eleven months and the club had to sack him and took somebody else.

He never coached any big team here; not even a first class team. The same thing Nigeria did later; somebody who coached an amateur club and was sacked after three months. He had no experience, nothing. You all saw what he did to Nigeria football. From that time till now, Nigeria football has never felt its place again. It has lost everything; the ovation, the atmosphere, the passion is all gone. That is how wrong choices kill a nation’s dream.

I am in Europe, I played this game and I find it amusing but sad that Nigeria cannot find people to scout out players for them. Somebody would be somewhere and because he is connected, they would send his name and they would take him, based on connection and not because of his productivity.

Back to USA ’94. The court today found Bonfrere Jo guilty of defamation against Westerhof, as Bonfrere had in an interview alleged that Westerhof sold the Nigeria versus Italy match. Your reaction.

Honestly, Westerhof did not sell any match and the verdict is correct. What Bonfrere Jo did to Nigerian football was so bad. He was a desperate man. Afterall, it was Westerhof that took him to Nigeria as an assistant, as a fitness trainer, not even as an assistant coach. You can see that Nigerians are easily swayed, either because of the colour or whatever, they trust a whiteman more than a black man. What he did in America against Nigeria should attract sanction and a claim for damages, because it was a betrayal of trust. Surprisingly, they made him succeed Westerhof and he took Nigeria to Atlanta ’96 Olympics, which I don’t want to talk about, because most of the people that played there were in the World Cup team, but when they came back from Atlanta, the same people that cost us Italy match began calling us Papa Eagles. Were most of them not married?.

There is something I want to say here, which is also the problem with Nigeria football. A certain NFA official(name withheld) travelled to Europe and came to me. He took my match(Anderlecht against AC Milan), he edited this video, presented it in Nigeria and made it look like I was too bad to be in the national team. If I made a pass, he would rather show the one that was intercepted by an opponent than show where I made a good pass. This was a match I was rated as the best player. After that match a debate ensued as to who was the better central defender between me and Baresi. All this was because the official was projecting a particular player(name withheld) who was playing in Asia and at that time, Asian football had no place in world football. This also is part of the problems confronting Nigeria football. Our officials are not honest, not disciplined. They are so gullible, so willing to sell a great talent just because of peanuts. I held that official too high and for him to have stooped so low, for a man of his calibre to be involved in such a mess was disappointing.

I challenged him openly, when we had a meeting at the World Cup because of his attitude. I challenged Westerhof also, I challenged the NFA boss then Omerua. I challenged all of them. I challenged Keshi when he fell out with Westerhof and I told him we should not wash our dirty linens in the public. I told them I was there to play. I was in form and ready to play. They may have kept me away from the national team for sometime, but that was in the past. So I had an issue with most of them because that was how they deliberately shut out some players from the national team. There were issues of bribe taking in the national team. There were times some Nigerian coaches took bribe to invite players to camp. Many things have affected our football. We could have done better than the results we had in some tournaments we have played.

That is why since then, we haven’t been to the same competition two or three times and performed at the same level. We won the U17 several times but at the senior level, we never won anything because money is playing a damaging role. Can somebody look into this area and ask, how come since the 1994 World Cup, we are still using the team as yardstick till today. Does it mean we can’t progress? Does it mean we are maintaining the same standard. Does it mean we build and scatter so that whoever comes starts from the scratch again? I think we are making a lot of mistakes in our football.

Have you been following the Nigeria national team of late?

Actually, I have watched a few matches of the national team. I took time and watched them from here. From all I have seen so far, I don’t want to watch again until there is another major competition. But there is no one player that can make a difference in the team, they are all playing telephone passes. You can be sure the way forward will be very difficult. You can be sure of that. There were no creative passes, no clear cut passes that could take out two or three defenders for the strikers to connect and score goals, then you can see why the Eagles have become a low scoring side since that 1994 World Cup. Where are we going? What happens now is that whoever comes starts from the scratch; no continuity. Things don’t ever work that way. They would cry invite players from the domestic league, he would call them, dress them but would end up using foreign based players.

The foreign players he invites now are mostly children of Nigerian immigrants in the diaspora. Most of them passed through the European academy football system. Do you see this as a way forward for Nigeria football?

It is not because there are a lot of factors: climatic, food, environmental and the atmosphere are factors that come into play in match situations. For instance, some die-hard supporters would not have that connection as they can’t fully support ‘total strangers’, something like that traditional connectivity would be missing, the passion won’t click. And for the players, it will just be fly in, play and go. We knew we were playing for our own nation.

There is a difference from when we were playing for the national team. We understood nationalism better when we wore the green-white jersey. You could understand what we were talking about because we grew up on that soil, we fed on that soil and cut our teeth on that soil and we knew what it was to satisfy Nigerian fans. The fans want to be happy. You can’t come and play European football in Africa. That is why when they leave Europe to come and play in the Africa Cup, they don’t shine.

What is the way forward?

The way forward? Ask the coach the way forward. That coach who came to take over, ask him what he has to offer. Can we not mandate a coach to do what we want? Must we always fall prey to whatever the coach has to offer? Anything a new coach tells us we would agree and say, let us give him a chance. So every coach that comes we give him a chance. Is that how to build a national team? Which national team in Europe, the teams you want to compete with at the World Cup gives every d#$%, Tom and Harry a chance? When do we move ahead with the rest of the world?

Look at our last outing at the World Cup, most of our players were heavy, they carried bodies like bodybuilders, they could not run. They had short muscles, not explosive muscles. You don’t see those explosive, action-packed muscles in them. There was a coaching problem. You may give coaches targets and also monitor their performances. You must have a culture they have to respect. I mean football culture. Of course, you must support your coach but you must also guide him and know when he begins to derail. But what do you want me to say when the coach does not watch our league? Where do you want me to begin?

So you find something wrong in their coaching, in their training?

They had lost the elasticity to play football so any little tackle results in injury. Look at Messi, he can turn you within millimetres space because he has his natural bodies. You don’t play football with built bodies. We didn’t build any muscles, that is why we were elastic. You push us, we push you back. When you see players who build muscles, just walk past them and you would find them fall like a bag of tomatoes and start begging for the referee’s help.

Your greatest moment in your football career?

My greatest moment in my career was the World Cup. When we came into the stadium, it was full to capacity with over a hundred thousand people cheering…Oh my God…and I knew that any time I was playing, the first touch of the ball mattered a lot; it is very important to every player. At that moment, whatever you do with the ball either gives you the confidence or gives you away for the rest of the match. It was my greatest moment. I faced some of the biggest names in world football like Leichkov, Balakov, Stoichkov and we got someone like Maradona to make sure he didn’t do those things he used to do best; scoring goals. So that was it.

Saddest moment?

My worst moment in football was losing out to Italy and we lost to Italy due to indiscipline. Somebody fouled you and you were in possession of the ball and the referee said play on, and you, instead, kicked the ball out of the field. You stood there complaining and they took a throw in, you were still standing there complaining and that was it. It was terrible. When they scored against us, I knew it would be a miracle to get us through. We went so far, to have given up just like that.

There is this belief that if not for the gang-up against Westerhof, that USA ’94 team could have got to the final?

I am telling you that we had all that was needed to win that World Cup because, another thing was that we had officials that were only after their estacode which they had already gotten, because it was too much for them. They robbed us, the players. Maybe they were more interested in going home because if you look at that match, you would feel bad we lost the way we did.

What was it like, marking Maradona?

Actually, it was not my place to mark Maradona but I had no option when I saw that he was waltzing through our defence, and I was the last man in the defence. When he came and Cannigia came, Uche was on Caniggia. Where was the midfield player, the man in the middle who should have been taking on Maradona? So there was a gap and that was the problem. Why would somebody work against his team because he was not playing? Why would players gang up against the coach who felt that we needed to change hotel to have better concentration?

I was the one who stood up against them, when we had a meeting with officials and I told them whoever left this place I would make sure they stoned him at the airport when we arrived. We had a lot of issues, some of the players went out, carrying women and some slept where they were not supposed to sleep. The coach wanted to change all that and they ganged up against him. Today I see some of them coming to the national team as coach; something you destroyed?

I was so disappointed after the match against Italy because I was not ready to leave the World Cup at the time we left. It hindered a lot of things for me personally because I had a target. That was how I saw football. It was my calling and I gave everything into it.

Advice to young, aspiring Nigerian footballers

My advice to them is that when I started playing, I had role models I looked up to. I watched Benjamin Okorogu and wanted to play like him. Okorogu was a former Enyimba and Rangers player, now late. I watched him play and how he did it and when I came to Europe, I watched former Italy international Baresi every single time he played. I liked his game. I wanted to play like him too. I watched some strikers; their movements, with and without the ball, which was the trick behind my defensive ability. I got to learn some of their tricks.

Our players today just dress, go there and start running around with the ball. When we were playing for the national team, you could see the formation we were playing, you could see our build up. But today, you don’t see that kind of build up, except teams like Barcelona, you could stand up even before a goal was scored because you could predict that a certain move would end in a goal..

So which club would you say is the best playing club in the world today?

At the moment I have a few clubs in Europe that when I have time I watch. I hardly watch Nigerian football because nothing interests me there anymore. I watch teams like Barcelona when they are playing against Real Madrid, I watch Paris Saint Germain, Juventus and Bayern Munich because they have begun to play good football now. Before, they were playing like the old Rangers of those days. (Laughter). I just want to watch good football because I don’t follow any particular club.

I just want to ask one question. Can I?

Please do!

What are the expectations of the Nigeria Football Federation on this current coach.



The current coach, his employers, the NFF seems to be satisfied with his performance so far. Just before the coronavirus pandemic, his contract was renewed for another two years. So we want to believe they were satisfied with his performance so far, that is why they are giving him another chance.

However, there is a campaign here at home that Nigerians should take over the national team and guide it by themselves.

So, do you think Nigerians can pilot the affairs of the Super Eagles successfully?

If you look at European national teams here, the coach is not the ultimate. They have managers. He has a technical group. You have the President of the club, secretary of the club and you have other officials who all work together for the good of the club.

We are talking about the national team set-up.

Yes. When you take people who are always embracing each other to lead the national team, you would never achieve good results. You have to choose people whose presence would make everyone tremble. Someone who can keep watch on the others and make them be always on their toes.

That was what happened in the 1994 World Cup. I had confidence and I was bold. When the Secretary General came to me to speak about Westerhof who left our camp when crisis broke out. I called Westerhof directly and said, you got to come back and finish the job you started with me. He called me Chidi, because of you Chidi, I will come. So when they saw him at the training ground, they couldn’t believe their eyes. You have to get people who would kick themselves and people with an insight of the game, people who can see and select players who can be good for every match. There are players who can only be good for training, in match situations you don’t see them.

In European national teams, they also have former players who are scouting for their national teams; they are everywhere. You fly somebody from Nigeria to come and watch me play one match. How can you use one match to assess me? It is totally wrong. You have people who are already in Europe. Call them, prod them and mobilise them to be able to move around, visit Nigerian players, go to their clubs, talk to them on behalf of the FA, watch them in training and watch them in matches. You don’t watch them on video where someone would edit and piece it together. It doesn’t happen. You got to monitor a player very well before you invite him to the national team for trial.

That is how it works. So national team set-up is not a one-man show. That is the way I look at it. They have to have people to help them in order to achieve results. Brazil, Italy, Germany do it. When the coach comes to watch a player, he meets the scout that had been here and they go together secretly to watch the player he had recommended. It’s the coach who would say, that quality you highlighted about this player, I have seen it in him.

If you were asked to come coach the Nigerian team, would you?

I have always answered this question in a particular way. To be a coach is not the only way you can help a team to succeed. There are many other ways. Like in Europe here, they have motivational speakers to stir up their spirits. The one that is emotionally down, maybe he finds himself not playing well, he goes through that process in order to get well. Somebody can be in the technical team, helping the coach to select players in their various positions. If you look at some teams today, they seem to have players who play in the same position but scattered in different positions. When you do that, you can’t have a strong team. One can help the national team in the area of fitness, welfare, disciplinary aspect because some players could be better players if they were disciplined, etc. Sometimes it could be bad lifestyles and you help them.

What do you do now?

I am in the ministry. That is why I said, a team that has all these fetish things will not do well. And that is what some players do and they have destroyed a lot of talents. That is what Nigeria needs to look into; moral discipline and moral behaviour. If you look at the way we carry ourselves and project ourselves here, there is a lot of difference between us and European counterparts. The Europeans play with all their hearts, but we take it easy as if there is nothing at stake.

[mcal]

...aku ko. Dizzying to read, but good reminiscent history of good days (and bad).

[waka-man]

If you read this whole piece, you’re a bigger fan than me.

[bushboy]

Reads like self promotional nonsense.

[deanotito]

...aku ko. Dizzying to read, but good reminiscent history of good days (and bad).

Dizzying for sure! Chidi is one of those people that you just don’t cross. He doesn’t forget natin

Also, Manfred Hoener obviously does not know how to speak. People like him cause so much damage due to unguarded statements.

[Lolly]

I believe he is now part of the SE back room staff. I saw him at our last match. Nice chap.

I wonder if he made up with Keshi before he passed on.

[Bigpokey24]

I am not a fan of long articles, but I read it..my goodness, the story sweet no be small.. Reading about his beginnings etc .. I enjoyed the local football stories back then. Also playing in Europe back then was like gold , the way we looked at players. We've come a long way though. I really e enjoyed this piece. You've done very well wanajo

This kind history and stories makes my love of Nigeria stronger. I have always been fascinated by the eastern part of Nigeria, and boy do they produce top footballers. Loved our local leagues back then.

[Cellular]

Reads like self promotional nonsense.

You obviously didn't read it.

He is confirming some of the stories we heard and saw in 94.

I can't confirm or collaborate the 88 story but the 94 one.

[Cellular]

I am not a fan of long articles, but I read it..my goodness, the story sweet no be small.. Reading about his beginnings etc .. I enjoyed the local football stories back then. Also playing in Europe back then was like gold , the way we looked at players. We've come a long way though. I really e enjoyed this piece. You've done very well wanajo

This kind history and stories makes my love of Nigeria stronger. I have always been fascinated by the eastern part of Nigeria, and boy do they produce top footballers. Loved our local leagues back then.

You read what?!

My friend, stop lying.

You abhor reading.

[Cmoke]

Guys,

I had extensive conversation with Chidi all through WC 94.
This interview na small thing compared to what he'll tell you face to face.
Apart from the SE 94 Mafia drama, I particularly enjoyed our conversations where he told me how he warned Cannegia, Maradona and Batigoal against entering our 18 yard box, and the face blows and fingernail scratches he inflicted upon them in that match.

Bobo na true worrior.

Cmoke

Reads like self promotional nonsense.

You obviously didn't read it.

He is confirming some of the stories we heard and saw in 94.

I can't confirm or collaborate the 88 story but the 94 one.

[Bigpokey24]

Guys,

I had extensive conversation with Chidi all through WC 94.
This interview na small thing compared to what he'll tell you face to face.
Apart from the SE 94 Mafia drama, I particularly enjoyed our conversations where he told me how he warned Cannegia, Maradona and Batigoal against entering our 18 yard box, and the face blows and fingernail scratches he inflicted upon them in that match.

Bobo na true worrior.

Cmoke

Reads like self promotional nonsense.

You obviously didn't read it.

He is confirming some of the stories we heard and saw in 94.

I can't confirm or collaborate the 88 story but the 94 one.

i enjoyed the story .. He had a good worldcup though.

[Scipio Africanus]

Nice read. To summarize:

He was born to play football

He didn't get along with Keshi

He doesn't believe in diaspora Nigerians on the team

He doesn't believe in "built bodies" or muscular people playing football. According to him they fall down like a bag of tomatoes when you pass them.

He confused the goal we conceded against Argentina with the one we conceded against Italy

Anything else?

[Cmoke]

Guys:

I can now disclose that Chidi Nwanu was the source of my classic ODIYE in CAMP contribution to our old forum.

http://ns.cybereagles.com/viewtopic.php ... &view=next

Chei if somebody can please retrieve it. The write up was so helele that Odiye himself came to CE to defend himself o!

Cmoke

If you fit my ODIYE IN CAMP thread, abeg repost

Guys,

I had extensive conversation with Chidi all through WC 94.
This interview na small thing compared to what he'll tell you face to face.
Apart from the SE 94 Mafia drama, I particularly enjoyed our conversations where he told me how he warned Cannegia, Maradona and Batigoal against entering our 18 yard box, and the face blows and fingernail scratches he inflicted upon them in that match.

Bobo na true worrior.

Cmoke

Reads like self promotional nonsense.

You obviously didn't read it.

He is confirming some of the stories we heard and saw in 94.

I can't confirm or collaborate the 88 story but the 94 one.

i enjoyed the story .. He had a good worldcup though.

[Polly]

Chidi Nwanu was a key justification for FIFA's change of the back pass rule. About the only pass he could manage was to the goalkeeper. I will not punish myself with any Super Eagles tale he has to tell.

[truetalk]

Chidi Nwanu was a key justification for FIFA's change of the back pass rule. About the only pass he could manage was to the goalkeeper. I will not punish myself with any Super Eagles tale he has to tell.

Sir, you must be talking of someone else.

Chidi Nwanu came back to the National team, after a long absence and snatched a starting spot alongside Uche Okechukwu for the 1994 World Cup.

He claimed Keshi had made Westerhorf keep him out of the team before then, but his performances in Europe made caused a huge outcry as there was no reason for him not to be invited. He was so much better than Uche Okafor (RIP), who started during the Nation's Cup, earlier in the year.

[2think]

Nice read. To summarize:

He was born to play football

He didn't get along with Keshi

He doesn't believe in diaspora Nigerians on the team

He doesn't believe in "built bodies" or muscular people playing football. According to him they fall down like a bag of tomatoes when you pass them.

He confused the goal we conceded against Argentina with the one we conceded against Italy

Anything else?

He also confused Daniele Massaro for Baggio...

Nwanu always wore his heart on his sleeves
Was a solid baller

[Dammy]

Chidi Nwanu was a key justification for FIFA's change of the back pass rule. About the only pass he could manage was to the goalkeeper. I will not punish myself with any Super Eagles tale he has to tell.

Sir, you must be talking of someone else.

Chidi Nwanu came back to the National team, after a long absence and snatched a starting spot alongside Uche Okechukwu for the 1994 World Cup.

He claimed Keshi had made Westerhorf keep him out of the team before then, but his performances in Europe made caused a huge outcry as there was no reason for him not to be invited. He was so much better than Uche Okafor (RIP), who started during the Nation's Cup, earlier in the year.

Nwanu was one of the reasons the mafia worked against Yekini in the 1994 WC. Yekini canvassed for the recall of Nwanu, who was by far Nigeria's best central defender after the AFCON victory in Tunisia. We had few players playing at Nwanu's level at that time and it was a travesry that he was not in the SE. Keshi, had his loyalist, Okafor, who was clubless playing in that position, while Nwanu was playing UCL football for Anderlecht!
I remember the day the SE played a goalless draw against Egypt in the 94 AFCON, Nwanu was playing in the UCL for Anderlecht against AC Milan at the San Siro and completely dominating Jean-Pierre Papin.

[mapet]

I believe he is now part of the SE back room staff. I saw him at our last match. Nice chap.

I wonder if he made up with Keshi before he passed on.

I think they made up at a joint in Surulere before the WC, heard Sia1, Mutiu, Uche set it up

[The Eagle]

He didn't get along with Keshi

No vex, but this is a bit of a misrepresentation. It makes it seem like it was pettiness or a personality clash.

What he said is Keshi (RIP) vetoed his invitation to the Eagles in order to prevent Nwanu from replacing Keshi in central defence. Personally, when I saw the combination between Uche Okechukwu and Chidi Nwanu at the World Cup, I wondered why we hadn't been using this pairing all along .... with due respect to Uche Okafor (RIP) and considering the fact that Keshi, already a legend, was not at the height of his powers by that time, and hadn't been for a while.

He confused the goal we conceded against Argentina with the one we conceded against Italy

If I understand the part of his story you are referencing, check the Italy match video (I did, it is still painful to watch) .... he is referencing Sunday Oliseh kicking the ball out for an Italian throw-in, giving them the possession that they used to score the goal. The video focuses (obviously) on the Italians collecting the ball and throwing it, and not on what Oliseh (or Nwanu) was doing at the time, so I don't know whether or not Oliseh was arguing with the referee about not calling a freekick against Italy.

Actually, that was the second possession we needlessly gave away. A couple of minutes prior to that, we were passing the ball amongst ourselves, keeping it away from the Italians, to the delight of Nigerian fans in attendance. The Italians were not chasing too hard and seemed to have given up, but then someone decided to kick it long to no one in particular, in the direction of the Italian 18 .... Yekini did the obligatory attempt to chase the "pass", but for all intents and purposes it was a back-pass to the Italian goalkeeper, giving them possession, when we should have just continued the keep away until they either forced possession or .... didn't.

What I think Nwanu is implying is Oliseh should have restarted the "keep away" passing, instead of kicking it long into touch when he had no real reason to. Having said that, hindsight is always 20-20.

[The Eagle]

Chidi Nwanu was a key justification for FIFA's change of the back pass rule. About the only pass he could manage was to the goalkeeper. I will not punish myself with any Super Eagles tale he has to tell.

Really? Chidi Nwanu caused FIFA to change the back-pass rule?

Now that I think of it, he is probably responsible for the introduction of VAR as well.

[Scipio Africanus]

He didn't get along with Keshi

No vex, but this is a bit of a misrepresentation. It makes it seem like it was pettiness or a personality clash.

What he said is Keshi (RIP) vetoed his invitation to the Eagles in order to prevent Nwanu from replacing Keshi in central defence. Personally, when I saw the combination between Uche Okechukwu and Chidi Nwanu at the World Cup, I wondered why we hadn't been using this pairing all along .... with due respect to Uche Okafor (RIP) and considering the fact that Keshi, already a legend, was not at the height of his powers by that time, and hadn't been for a while.

He confused the goal we conceded against Argentina with the one we conceded against Italy

If I understand the part of his story you are referencing, check the Italy match video (I did, it is still painful to watch) .... he is referencing Sunday Oliseh kicking the ball out for an Italian throw-in, giving them the possession that they used to score the goal. The video focuses (obviously) on the Italians collecting the ball and throwing it, and not on what Oliseh (or Nwanu) was doing at the time, so I don't know whether or not Oliseh was arguing with the referee about not calling a freekick against Italy.

Actually, that was the second possession we needlessly gave away. A couple of minutes prior to that, we were passing the ball amongst ourselves, keeping it away from the Italians, to the delight of Nigerian fans in attendance. The Italians were not chasing too hard and seemed to have given up, but then someone decided to kick it long to no one in particular, in the direction of the Italian 18 .... Yekini did the obligatory attempt to chase the "pass", but for all intents and purposes it was a back-pass to the Italian goalkeeper, giving them possession, when we should have just continued the keep away until they either forced possession or .... didn't.

What I think Nwanu is implying is Oliseh should have restarted the "keep away" passing, instead of kicking it long into touch when he had no real reason to. Having said that, hindsight is always 20-20.

My worst moment in football was losing out to Italy and we lost to Italy due to indiscipline. Somebody fouled you and you were in possession of the ball and the referee said play on, and you, instead, kicked the ball out of the field. You stood there complaining and they took a throw in, you were still standing there complaining and that was it. It was terrible. When they scored against us, I knew it would be a miracle to get us through. We went so far, to have given up just like that.

This is the part I was referencing. No foul was involved when we conceded to Italy, IIRC. Maybe there was. It was a while ago.

[The Eagle]

My worst moment in football was losing out to Italy and we lost to Italy due to indiscipline. Somebody fouled you and you were in possession of the ball and the referee said play on, and you, instead, kicked the ball out of the field. You stood there complaining and they took a throw in, you were still standing there complaining and that was it. It was terrible. When they scored against us, I knew it would be a miracle to get us through. We went so far, to have given up just like that.

This is the part I was referencing. No foul was involved when we conceded to Italy, IIRC. Maybe there was. It was a while ago.

You are not wrong. There was no foul in my opinion, and the referee didn't call a foul .... but just before Oliseh kicked the ball out for a throw, he and an Italian had had very brief physical contact (perfectly legal on both sides, in my opinion). The camera then moved to focus on the Italians taking the throw-in, so I don't know if Oliseh was arguing off-camera with the referee as Nwanu alleged.

To a certain degree I find ex-internationals "revelations" to be interesting .... and to a certain degree, ex-internationals' "revelations" are a bit like the biographies and autobiographies of Nigerian politicians and militicians, which are fictional narratives where the subject politician-militician is presented as the only real superhero in Nigerian history, while the rest of the political firmament are portrayed as villains who thwarted the fantastic plans of the subject politician-militician.

Mind you, the ex-internationals are mostly honest, with a tinge of self-hype and a spoonful of rubbishing their "enemies" in football .... while the political biographies are like historical fiction, where true events of history are woven into otherwise fanciful myths. Sadly, and somewhat frighteningly, a lot of us Nigerians take political propaganda as gospel truth, even if it clearly contradicts observable reality.