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Mikel and Enyeama Gave Keshi Problems, Says Sunday Oliseh, the former Eagles coach. During his time, Oliseh narrated his sore relationship with some senior players on the national team.
Former Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has described how, after the NFF appointed him head coach, he was saddled with the responsibility of facilitating the issues within the national team.
Credit – NFF
He noted that three key players—Jon Mikel, Emmanuel Emenike, and Vincent Enyeama—were causing problems in the camp.
Oliseh had a stellar career as a player with the National team. After retiring, he acquired his coaching badge and entered the business.
Subsequently, he was allowed to coach the Nigerian National team, widely known as the “Super Eagles.”
However, his 14-game stint in charge of the team was not impressive. Although he was only defeated twice, his tenure experienced a lopsided relationship with some key players.
A few years after he resigned from the role, he has come out to narrate his ordeal as the team’s head coach.
In an interview with ELEGBETE TV, Sunday Oliseh disclosed that he was handed a disintegrated team comprising issues with key players from his predecessor, Stephen Keshi.
The former coach said the NFF warned him before becoming head coach.
The three players, John Mikel Obi, Emmanuel Emenike, and Vincent Enyeama, were troublemakers, and the federation advised getting rid of them.
Ex-Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh said: “When I was signed to coach the Super Eagles, they told me that they had not qualified because they were having problems with certain players,” Oliseh told Matthew Edafe.
These players also had problems with Keshi, so Nigeria did not qualify for AFCON 2015.
The 49-year-old eased the issue instead by pacifying the players in question.
He said Emenike was amenable; however, neither Mikel nor Enyeama was ready to comply.
I told them, “You know, myself, as a former captain, I know NFF is not easy,” so I told them to let me talk to the players. Let me speak to them. Let me try to get them on board. Let me share my philosophy with them, and let’s see how it goes.
“When this happened, what I did was call the captain of the team, who was Enyeama. I took my car and drove almost 200 km to this player with my assistant coach. I took him out to lunch, paid for it, watched him train in the morning, spoke to his coach, spent a whole day with my captain, spoke to him, and gave him the philosophy of how it was going to be.”
Super Eagles Lifting The AFCON Trophy
They told me that the three players the NFF had problems with were Enyeama, John Obi-Mikel, and Emmanuel Emenike.
“To start with, the biggest regret as Super Eagles coach was when Emenike called me and said, ‘I am retiring as a national team player.’”
Credit – NFF
“Working with Emenike was one of the best things I had as a Super Eagles coach. He was a great guy. He was a nice guy. When I saw what some media people had written about this boy, I was shocked because I could speak with Emenike; he was willing but felt he could not take it anymore. He said, ‘Coach, no, I have to stop.’”
“That is why I am so happy each time I see Emenike doing well… it was the opposite of what some people at the NFF had told me about him.”
Stressing further, Oliseh said, “ On the other hand, I sent a message to Mikel, he never answered my call, he never called me back. He never did anything.
He ignored and played a super diva.
“I took my car, got onto a train with my assistant, drove to London to see John Obi Mikel and to see Moses.
At the time, they were both playing at Chelsea. Gave them an appointment at the hotel.
Two club teammates, Moses, came to the meeting, and we had a drink and spoke.
The boy told me some private things I wouldn’t share about why he was no longer interested in the Super Eagles, and I tried to change his mind.
The other one refused to come. What could I do? The boy was already causing problems, and I also had problems with Enyeama.
Just before the game against Tanzania. We were playing the game on Friday; everybody came into camp.
On Wednesday, the man was still not there, only to phone us on Wednesday evening that he wanted to bury his mother, who died three months ago.
We had to rush into that game. We were lucky to get a draw, and I had already invited Karl Ikeme.
Well, the story is history now. Ikeme was unbelievably good, so we were able to survive.
Oliseh revealed that a principled personality is essential for becoming a successful coach. He stated that his principles and strong personality made him overwhelming to the players, whom he labelled “uncommitted players.”
