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Former Super Eagles midfielder, Duke Udi has opened up on he missed out on the team that went to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games under former coach, Bonfrere Jo.
Though the team braced all the odds to clinch Nigeria’s only gold medal in the football event at the Olympics, Udi revealed that he was unfairly axed from the team by the coach for rejecting a loan move to Slovakia.
According to him, Bonfrere was instrumental in his securing a deal with Grasshoppers in Switzerland.
But a loan move to Slovakia which he rejected from the club put him out of favour with the ex-Eagles gaffer.
“The contract was different from the treatment I got at the club.
“When I met him (Bonfrere) again, he said he heard I had been unruly and that I also damaged the official car given to me, but it was all lies and I told him that.
“Down the line, I was asked to go out on loan, Bonfrere told me to accept the move to Slovakia, but I refused and opted to return home to 3SC.”
”Bonfrere was angry and though I played all the qualifying matches and friendlies, He swore I wouldn’t make the 1996 Atalanta Olympics team.
“After the camp in Enugu ended and we got to Lagos where the list was announced, I was dropped. Bonfrere called me stupid for turning down the Slovakia move and just because he was such a vindictive person, he could do that to me,” he concluded.
By Augustine Akhilomen
Bonfrere Swore To Drop Me From Atlanta ’96 Olympic Team- Udi Opens Up On Rift With Ex-Eagles Coach
Bonfrere Jo Swore That He'll Drop Me From Atlanta 96 Olympic Team- Duke Udi Opens Up On Rift With Ex-Eagles Coach
Austin Akhilomen
Augustine Akhilomen is a passionate sports content writer. A fan of the Super Eagles and Chelsea. My aim is to promote the game of sports globally.
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7 Comments
And this is the person some people are calling super eagles best coach,bonfrere is the worst person u can have by ur side u can confirm that from westerhof,
The man even betrayed Westerhof and claimed he sold the match BTW Italy and Nigeria at the 94 WC…..a ruling in a Dutch court determined that the accusation was unfounded after westerhof sued his ass. He was asked to apologize to Clemens. I might be wrong but with the talents we had btw 1990 to 2000, it’ll be hard for any coach not to have succeeded with the super eagles..but kudos to Westerhof for giving us our best performance ever at a WC. I believe if we had beat Italy we would’ve have played in the final.
Am I missing something here. However unethical it is for a coach to engage in player agency, but he helped get you a deal in Switzerland and once there you had bad experiences and ran back to 3SC i.e your comfort zone; even when a deal was secured for you to go to Slovakia – a slower league where you could further horne your skills before moving to better championships.
Guy you gave the man the impression that you’ll wilt at the first sign of difficulty by running back to Nigeria. What did u expect?
May not be fair, but his decision to drop you from the team is not entirely illogical.
Awww sorry Udo, I didn’t know the package of the loan deal, knowing the coach is involve and Olympic games @corner,, I feel you could have managed Slovakia loan, represent Nigeria and win Gold @olympic..
Maybe a top club could have come for you..
I don’t think coming home at that point was the best option..
“My opinion”
Awww sorry Udo, I didn’t know the package of the loan deal, knowing the coach is involve and Olympic games @corner,, I feel you could have managed Slovakia loan, represent Nigeria and win Gold @olympic..
Maybe a top club could have come for you..
I don’t think coming home at that point was the best option..
“My opinion” don’t get it twisted
Sammy, you spoke in this matter as an oracle, yes your submission is reasonable enough and I will leave it that way. You see, some people do not know how to look at the bigger picture in their decision-making. If the man is a devil, he would not secure a contract for you which nobody knew then, that was the more the reason why you should have listened to him. I am not justifying his dropping you if you truly merited a spot in that 1996 Olympics team but you should have done better than running back to 3Sc. Looking at that team and the positions, my brother, it was a tight corner.
Udi you were foolish. You missed the point. It’s even likely you did not tell us the whole truth. What happened to you in switzerland. We’re you rude. Did you spoil the official car. You might not have spoken the whole truth. When you came back to 3sc how did that helped your career.