Former home-based Super Eagles midfielder, Osas Okoro, participated in the inaugural Complete Sports Celebrity Workout staged at the The Palms Lekki, Lagos on December 29 2018. He also spared some time to talk about the fitness event and his current career at Zambia top league side, Buildcon FC. Interview by Sulaiman Alao.
Excerpts…
COMPLETE SPORTS: Good to have you grace the Complete Sports Celebrity Workout..
OSAS OKORO: Thank you for inviting me. I feel honoured to be part of this. I think it is a good program to help us footballers and members of the public to keep fit which is good for everybody.
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What is the importance of participating in an event like this?
It is very important for everyone to keep fit because doing so enhances the general well-being of such an individual. Taking part in workouts makes one healthy as one hardly fall sick. It is definitely something to be encouraged.
You now star for Buildcon FC in Zambia after a successful career playing for several clubs in the Nigerian league. How has the experience been so far in Zambia?
Well, it’s been a good experience and an interesting one. Zambia is a very good country in the southern part of Africa. It is not a big country like Nigeria, but the people are warm and hospitable. Also, they have a very organized football league.
I thank God I did well in the league season that has ended, and my club finished in the top 10. Now that I’m back home in Nigeria, it’s good to be with my family and friends. But I’m also looking forward to the next season and praying in an even better season.
The Nigeria Professional Football League was inconclusive last season and Lobi Stars was declared the winner with some matches still to go. How do you feel about that development?
Now that I play football in Zambia, it’s not funny when people out there ask you about what is going on back home in the Nigerian league. The league not being concluded the last term was not good enough even though I understand some issues cropped up which I believe have been resolved now. All I want to say is to plead with our administrators to put all hands on the deck to ensure such does not happen anymore so that our league can further develop.
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Osas Okoro was a star of the Nigerian CHAN team a few years back. You must be looking forward to starring for the main Super Eagles?
It is a privilege if you get to play for your country and every player wants to wear the green and white jersey of Nigeria. I believe having featured for the CHAN Eagles, the next step is the main Super Eagles. But I’m also aware that Nigeria is blessed with lots of good players home and abroad. I will keep working hard and hopefully, if God wishea I will play for the main Super Eagles team.
How do react to Nigeria’s qualification for the Nations Cup having missed the last two editions?
I’m happy that Nigeria have qualified for the Nations Cup. We are the giants of Africa and it’s not good for us to be missing out in the competition. Not playing in the last two editions was not good for the development of the game in our country, but I hope we can use this opportunity to make a big impact.
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How far do you think Nigeria can go at the Africa Cup of Nations coming up mid-year?
Osas Okoro: To do well in any competition is down to good preparation. I believe we have a good team and a good manager. With good preparation, Nigeria can go all the way like we did last term in 2013 when we won the cup. But if we fail to prepare well, we’ll end up getting a rude shock at the tournament because other good teams in Africa will be on parade in the competition.
15 Comments
Osas wake up from your dream which eagles are you talking about? Anyway I won’t be surprised if some will come and say you’re the best we have in the country! Hahahah
You are most likely the one to call for his inclusion seeing as you like sub-par players. Like that you guy in laliga dv2.
Dumbass the last time I called for Chukwueze inclusion before he was invited just like I’m rooting for Saka of Arsenal to choose Nigeria you started ranting alongside your co mediocre partner Drey now there you go again starting a Drama of war and then you’ll runaway into Oblivion when the snakes starts coming out of them hole!
Pls remind us who called for the inclusion of Emmanuel Daniel who has been clubless and missing for the past 2 years, Dele Alampasu who hasnt caught an orange in fierense for the past 2 years, musa mohammed who is playing on loan in a back water club like the one okoro is playin for in the zambian league, and isaac success who has not score a cummulative total of 10 league goals in 5 years in europe.
I can see that not only are you suffering from old age syndrome…you also seem to be suffering from an lethal combination of Alzheimer, paraplegia and parkinson’s disease of the brain.
And stop telling us lies. You NEVER…NEVER called for chukwueze’s inclusion before he made his 1st team debut for villareal.
I don’t know what you gain from embarrassing your self on this site…you say you are a family man but you reason like a child and you know next to nothing about football and yes you are a wailer that hypes below average players. Drey is always around to school you. Me? I don’t have your time boy.
My brother…pls leave that pathetic lair alone. Not every family man is a father. Some people just rear children…they dont parent them…!
I can only blame the football authorites why our players go to backwater leagues in Zambia, Ethiopia, Gabon and even Libya in order to make a living.
Osas cannot qualify for CHAN anymore and is unlikely to play for the Super Eagles unless he comes home to a Nigerian club
These players need to eat, they need to earn a wage and this is just one of the consequences of the battle of egos at the top of the Nigerian football chain. Players will take any offer that comes. Imagine the captain of Lobi Stars abandoning the CAF champions League to sign for a club in Vietnam. That move takes him directly to the football wilderness.
It’s the players careers that suffer and a knock on effect is the stunted growth of our football potentials.
Well Said! I hope you’ll maintain this words of Change in our football development and not follow the route of those who support backward trend of players choosing by heart as par the hardship back home! Hmmm one Nigeria will change
Wow @ BigD. And this is one of the biggest reasons Nigerian clubsides rarely win the CAF champions league. Imagine after a heartwarming start last Saturday, the captain of Lobi Stars has already abandoned ship for a backwater league in Vietnam depleting the quality, strength and potentials of the team. Sad. And what the heck is Osas Okoro doing in the Zambian league of all places? Shame! It all still boils down to the economy and value of the naira, which is why the SA and Egyptian league are currently the strongest in Africa. It all still boils down to a vision-less government and the ripple effect everywhere, including football.
Very well put @Kel.
@Kel, the bigger problem is not the value of the naira or the government. it is unemployment or under employment. We can put the blame squarely at the football authorities for not being able to maintain the league, not being able to organize matches with the direct result that the players simply have not earned a penny for seven months. now if these players have house rent to pay, school fees to take care of or food to buy, the value of the naira is irrelevant because there is none in their pocket at all. Whether it is 1:1 with the dollar or 1,000:1 the net amount in the pocket is Zero!
Will the league continue to the end of this season without being abandoned in May this 2019? It’s anyone’s guess and its this uncertainty that makes our best players move even to warzones in a bid to at least earn a living.
And yes, its no wonder that our teams have not done well in continental competitions, from Eyimba driving from Lagos to Abidjan (14 to 20 hour journey) and arriving tired the day before the match 9or sometimes even arriving the very day of match) to losing players who go to pastures new (Enugu Rangers typically have players who go awol and find themselves signed to clubs in Portugal or Sweden mid season), to the LMC and NNL as well as NPFL not being able to come to a footballing decision that arises from footballing reasons, rather it comes from a myopic midset, to needless harassment by the red bereted clown.
In short, the biggest issue that affects our football and footballers is this conflict of egos with those who run the local game. Its the people who cannot agree, not the govt that is wrong with our football. After all FIFA rules preclude govt for interfering and its in the times that govt interferes that we are in the danger zone of a world wide ban.
lets place the blame squarely with the football authorities
Osas okoro he is a good right back..
But can’t displace tje likes of ebuehi, Aina Musa Muhammad for now..
Maybe in the coming years you can get a shot at SE
Na true talk
Osas Okoro will never make it to the Super Eagles any day, with his corrupt record!!! like you guys have forgotten so soon where you first heard the name (Osas Okoro)