Former Nigerian midfielder, Sunday Oliseh has revealed that the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) tried to sack Clemens Westerhof as the coach of the senior national team prior to Nigeria’s first-ever appearance at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Oliseh, who was a member of the team that won Nigeria’s second Africa Cup of Nations title in Tunisia 94′, stated this in his book, titled ‘Audacity to Refuse’.
The former Borussia Dortmund star noted that Westerhof confined on him on the move by the NFA to sack without any genuine reasons.
Oliseh was a key member of the Super Eagles team that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia under Dutch tactician Clemens Westerhof.
“Prior to President (Sani) Abacha’s call, I received a surprising response, a summon from coach Westerhoff to his room. He inquired how my knee injury was going. Before I could give a response he informed me that I had to do everything possible to play as my role had become extremely important to our success and my absence would be disastrous for us as he had no credible replacement.
“He shocked me as he informed me that since I had become one of the influential players of the team in a short time, he wanted to let me know that his position was being threatened. He informed me that the FA was trying to sack him before the World Cup.
“With hindsight, I believe he needed my backing should my opinion be sought from above regarding his future. This was confusing, while it was flattering to see how important God had made me with the Super Eagles in a very short time. I was also put in a complicated position at the same time,” Oliseh said in his book.”
He was also part of the squad that won the 1996 Olympic Gold medal in Atlanta.
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COMMENTS
This oliseh sef eh…na wa o…. always talking and bringing out dust from every corner… Sunday remember say Dem give you chance to carry us go our promise Land o,na u scatter the chance con commot leave us for express….now we Don dey see road small small u come dey show face again…haba oliseh there is God oh…NB..Rohr should please scout ABBAS IBRAHIM he is a midfielder from the Portuguese Liga the guy na baller
Mr oliseh then after he took us to that mondial what happened,did him win it?, Jobless man
People say westahof is the most successful coach in Nigerian history because he won the Nations cup and took us to second round of WC but that’s exactly what keshi also did so what makes westahof the most successful coach?…I just pray this present crop of players break that jinks so we can rest from this 94 set issue
@uba you are actually the one that lacks understanding.CSN is previewing Sunday Oliseh recently released book. It was not a Face to face interview but a paragraph from his book.