-Coach Adeboye Onigbinde opens up on 2002 misadventureInterview By Sulaiman Alao:
GETTING THE 2002 WORLD CUP COACHING ASSIGNMENT
I was appointed coach of the Super Eagles after our outing at the African Cup of Nations held in Mali in 2002. Though I was at the competition as the Head of the Technical Department, my role was clearly defined. The Nigeria Football Federation selected four of us; Alabi Aissien, Christo Davis and Paul Hamilton were there to assist me in analysing the matches played by the team and forwarding our observations to the coach and the members of his backroom staff. It was standard procedure as we were members of the technical department. During one of the team’s matches, at half-time, I went to the dressing room to pass a message from the technical department through a note. I did not ask the coach, Shaibu Amodu to stop talking to the players. I just quietly passed the note to Stephen Keshi (Amodu’s assistant at the time) who read it, tore it into pieces and threw into the waste bin. I said nothing and quietly moved away.
After the tournament, I was actually in London on holidays when I heard the authorities had disbanded the team and that the coaches had been sacked on the grounds of poor performance and indiscipline. Then I started receiving calls asking that I should come and take over the team.
What happened was that at the time, I was acting as the Technical Director. I was appointed after going through an interview. It was also the standard process then, that if the federation had any problem with the coaching crew, the technical director would be mandated to take over. That was three months to the Korea/Japan World Cup. Initially, I was reluctant but I later accepted due to the interest of the nation. When I later took up the Eagles coaching job, my brief was to manage the Eagles for the period of the World Cup and also to set the foundation for a future team. It was a daunting task, considering the tournament was just around the corner then, but, I think I gave it my best shot and the rest as they say, is history.
RAISING A NEW TEAM FOR THE WORLD CUP
Sincerely, it was not easy raising a new team for the World Cup in such a short period of time. I had to start almost from the scratch because we were not sure of the commitment of most of the old players we invited. I remember before we went to the World Cup, there was a revelation by the Honourable Sports Minister Ishaya Mark Aku (now late). Then NFA Chairman, Brigadier General Dominic Oneya and I were with the Minister on one occasion, when somebody brought a note and gave it to him. The Minister read it and passed it to me. The content in the note was that, the old players who went to Mali Nations Cup, said, if all of them were not invited, any one invited will not come. About 10 minutes later, another note was brought in which the Minister again read and passed to me. And the content of the second note was that anyone of the old players who turned up is coming to sabotage. But by the time we commenced preparations and we were doing well in the friendlies, things started to change. Actually, I must give kudos to Nwankwo Kanu and Austin Jay Jay Okocha, because they displayed understanding and were present from our first friendly game against Paraguay in London. When they came in, I was surprised but I welcomed them into the team and they followed the instructions I gave them as regards what I expected from them. I especially requested Okocha to exhibit his skills to the benefit of the team and he did that all through our games and I believe that later contributed to his securing a good contract with Bolton Football Club in England. Okocha played well in the midfield and also contributed well in the attack and defence.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT
Without doubt, the game against England stood out as the most memorable moment for me. We were grouped alongside Argentina, Sweden and England. And having lost the first two games, we could only play for pride in the last game because even if we had won, it would not have been enough to qualify for the next stage. After training, I invited the NFF officials and administrators to a meeting and I told them I would be presenting Nigeria’s future team for the last group game since we are out of the tournament at that point. They were worried that Nigerians would feel even more bitter if we lost scandalously to England but I stuck to my guns. They asked for the team list but I told them it was not ready. Eventually when I released my team list for the England game, they thought we had sold off the match to England because I left out most of the older players and decided to field the younger ones. For instance, when I mentioned Vincent Enyeama he was shivering but I psyched him up. But against their expectations, we played well and got a draw against England in the game and it was on FIFA record as one of the best matches of the tournament. Today, some of those young players I featured are now mainstay in the current team.
SADDEST MOMENT
I would say my decision to bring back one or two of the old players which eventually didn’t bode well for the team, remains the sad part of my World Cup story. Judging by the performance of the young rookies I fielded in last group game against England which we drew, I believe we could have done better and probably have qualified for the second round if I had fielded them in the first two games against Argentina and Sweden. Besides, you cannot rule out the possibility of sabotage because it was the same player that caused us to concede the lone goal against Argentina who again caused the two goals we conceded against Sweden. That was why we couldn’t progress from the group stages.
BIGGEST LESSON LEARNT
The biggest lesson is that we needed adequate time to prepare very well for the 2002 World Cup. I had less than three months to prepare a new team and it was definitely not enough but I did my best under the peculiar circumstances.
The other option was to have turned my country down when my services was needed but that would be unpatriotic. What you need is a team and not a bunch of star players because any intelligent coach wants the 11 players on the field to think as one and that takes time. Had it been, we had a certain technical policy for our football in Nigeria, it would have been easier to prepare a team within short notice because the players already know what to do.
I don't regret taking up the responsibility despite knowing I had a short time to prepare but after the tournament, I made a recommendation for future purposes, that preparations for other tournaments should start early but nothing came out of it.
MOST DIFFICULT OPPONENT
That was definitely Argentina. The South American side has continued to be our nemesis. They are always a skillful and experienced side and in addition, they are often blessed with one or two outstanding players who can solely change the course of a game. I recall a funny episode before the World Cup proper. The Argentine FA sent two personnel - a video man and a technical analyst to monitor my team during our preparations and they were not hiding. In fact, they brought videos of their own team and asked for my own but I warned them to be careful because I can change my team match to match. They thought I was playing pranks but after watching three of our friendly matches, they came back to me and admitted that they couldn’t really do a thorough assessment of my team because what they saw in the three games were different. I can write volumes on different patterns of play but I don’t believe in any one of them. I believe in functional football which is dynamic. Eventually, we lost to Argentina by a lone goal scored by Gabriel Batistuta.
EFFECT OF WORLD CUP PREPARATIONS ON FAMILY
I can only thank God who has given me a family that has stood by me in the course of my career. As a coach and as a CAF and FIFA instructor, the job entails being away from your family for some time every now and then, but over the years, they have come to terms with that and have shown understanding. The Korea/Japan World Cup preparation period was stressful but it never put a strain on my relationship with my family. The joy of it all is that they also appreciate what you’re doing and you always look forward to returning home each time you’ve been away. Besides, they share in the joy of your successes and are always there to comfort you when things don’t go too well.
WORLD CUP GAINS
For me, any attempt to quantify my World Cup gains in monetary terms would be missing the mark. Rather, I will say my biggest gain was the privilege of leading my country to the World Cup as a coach. It was a big honour which I’m proud of and I give all the glory to God. While I was not new to attending the World Cup in the past as a FIFA staff, the Korea/Japan edition remains special for me because I led the Eagles as the first indigenous coach to the Mundial, which was also historic in that it was the first time two countries co-hosted the competition.
APPRECIATION
Over the years, I’ve learnt not to expect being appreciated because if you put your mind to it and it doesn’t come, you can end up frustrated. I do things the way I think it should be done and if you praise me, I will thank you and if not, at least don’t tamper with my work. As regards the Korea/Japan World Cup, the NFF as a body did not appreciate the little achievement I had with the team but I’m not worried. Of course, I can understand the disappointment many felt that we did not get beyond the first round and I will say I was disappointed too. In 1993, I got a letter from the Ministry of Sports that I’d been nominated for a national award. Some people went and disrupted it and nothing came out of it, up till now.
CHANCES OF THE CURRENT TEAM
I have a very cordial relationship with Stephen Keshi and we do talk on phone occasionally. What I usually advise him is to remain focused and not allow himself to be pushed around. It would be unfair on my part as a technical person to talk about a team in Abuja while I’m in Ibadan. But having done well to win the Nations Cup, Keshi should take a cue from the Confederations Cup experience to guide him ahead of the World Cup in Brazil.
LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL
I thank God for His blessings because I’m living my normal life the way I used to. I marked my 76th birthday recently on March 6th and I don’t think I can talk about life after football because I’ve been in the game all my life. And irrespective of how anybody is treating me, they cannot push me away from football... (laughter).
FINAL THOUGHTS
I have always advocated for us to have a systematic developmental programme to encompass coaches, administrators and everyone for our football to move forward. I can only hope the authorities would take deliberate steps to put that in place as that is what obtains in other great footballing countries.
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