Former Nigerian forward, Daniel Amokachi has attributed Nigeria’s 4-1 loss to Denmark at the 1998 World Cup to former Super Eagles coach, Bora Milutinović’s inability to play Rashidi Yekini and Austine Okocha together.
Amokachi made this known in an interview with Brila Fm on Wednesday, where he insisted that their presence could have changed the complexion of the game.
He pointed out that Okocha would have created more goal-scoring assists for Yekini to score for the Super Eagles.
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‘If Yekini started that game with Jay-Jay we might not have lost.
‘Okocha played his absolute best game for us that day, he would have dropped at least six assists for Yekini, Instead Bora brought him on late in the second half.’
‘As far as I’m concerned he could have changed the course of our team in that competition if the Coach had used him more in France.’
17 Comments
Omg… can you guys stop with this 1998 eagles already.
Yes, you guys were good but let the past just go.
How is this news going to help now?
Haba, Yekini was already past his due date by this time now….smh.
This is simply click bait as far as Im concerned. We know about the indiscipline in camp and yet instead of bringing that up its this half baked reaon we’re getting. Yekini at this point was heavy legged. Imagine the miss he had in the second group match against Bulgaria. CSN please do better for us na. Its not by force to publish articles if they dont deliver anything tangible
Lol
@Dr Drey yet again a person who praises Ahmed Musa and tarnishs Augustine Jay Jay Okocha is not an individual I am prepared to listen too..
I will remind you that the same Okocha who’s name you are dragging through the Mud is the same name who any European, Foreigner or Non Super eagles fan will call when you ask if they Know Super Eagles of Nigeria till Today. It is the Same Okocha whom Ronaldinho will admit took him under his wings when he Joined PSG and will also admit he took a thing or two from Okocha’s game. Also this same Okocha is the player who almost single handily dragged us back to the final in Sululere Afcon 2000, a final we would have won had we not been robbed by Hayatou because we all saw Ikepba pen crossed the line. so the reason we reached the pen shoot out is down to Jay Jay. if I can remember clearly he was always the standout player in Any tournament Nigeria Participated during his time and is the one player who always gave his all for SE including that infamous game against Denmark in 1998, Okocha did not feed the ball because he knew the culprits of the rift in camp. so what is the point if Dodo Wanyama was playing so shambolic imagine the attackers who were in his faction what would they have done with the ball.
Equally Take a look at 2010 scenario the same thing with Ayegbeni (miss) and Kaita (lashing out and red card) do you really think that miss by Yakubu Ayegbeni was not palnned????,, Go look at the rift in the camp before the tournament. Mikel Obi was not injured at the time he simply did not want to play because that was at the height of sentimental team selection in this country. Enyeama was the only one who tried his best in that tournament in SA. Nigeria Always Shoots its self in the foot it is a collective contribution but please in Okocha’s case he is one of the only players who honoured the call to the national team if Okocha didn’t pitch he was genuinely injured which was very rare and I must commend him because in his playing days it was a ZOO in the NFF a BIg ZOO..
Please bros before you insult Our Greatest ever player get your facts straight.
Dr Drey, if you maintained that Okocha was dumped to the bench, then we are forgetting that Austin Okocha was only 20years of age as at USA 94, he was only promoted to the SE after Mauritius 93, oliseh himself said it in one of his interviews that Okocha was viewed as a talent that had to be protected, so what kind of 5 star performance would we expect from a 20 yr player? Westerhof may not be entirely satisfied with his style of play but was inevitable is that he was still one very important player, if it wasn’t so, westerhof wouldn’t play him against big teams like coted’Ivoire in the semi finals and even played him in the final as well, if he was so bad as you kept using the harsh words dumped in the bench, westerhof wouldn’t have taken him to the world cup, he was fielded against Argentina, he was there in an all important game as Italy, how many 20yrs old performed better than him in those tournament, He also witnessed his heroic performance at France 98, the reason at least we didn’t lost the midfield battle against Spain and others was because of his presence there,all these stats being dug up everytime in soccer doesn’t show the overall technical depth of the players, it is true Ahmed Musa has more goals than him in the super Eagles but no one with a renowned knowledge of football will pick Musa ahead of Okocha, okocha’s level was far above Musa’s. Why have the SE struggled to find his replacement until date if it was so easy to be better than okocha, but Musa has done great things for SE but the team won’t suffer without him
Nnamdi, please forget about Okocha’s age as at then, if it were by age, Westerhof wouldnt have featured the likes of Amokachi, Oliseh, Amunike or Finidi as regulars ahead of older and well established players when he did. It was 100% due to output. They were all in their teenage when they knocked off senior men from their positions. Siasia lost his place to Amokachi due to output. Ekpo lost his to Oliseh due to output. If any of them couldn’t deliver back then, they like Okocha would have found themselves on the bench. Okocha couldnt tie down a guaranteed place under westerhof not due to age but due to output. Westerhof HIMSELF SAID SO. Go and look for westerhof’s interviews online and watch them.
He said he couldnt stomach Okocha romancing the ball while our forwards are running into space only to release it when they have ran into offside positions. He said it HIMSELF. Or where and when do you think the popular Yekini lingo “e fi kini yi siwaju” (make una put this thing for front na) originated from…? Was it not due to Yekini’s constant complaint of being starved of the ball when he has made runs…?
Even to most fans back then Okocha used to be very annoying even though he was quite skillful and entertaining. He only got better with his timing as he grew older and more mature.
So no one has doubted Okocha’s talent here, neither has anyone undermined his contribution to world football nor rated anybody above or below him. Remove the veil of tribalism impeding your comprehension. But the fact remains that Westerhof did dump him on the bench for more the more purposeful Olihas, Olisehs or Mutuis of this world in his early days as a SE…not merely because he was a 20 years old. Oliseh went to USA 94 as a 19 year old and he had been a super regular before then delivering close to double figures in assists already even from his DM position. Okocha started I think about 2 games at 94 AFCON, started almost none of our pre world cup friendlies (I stand to be corrected) and played a combined 25 minutes in the group stages of the 1994 world cup. That wasnt in anyway a super-regular. Maybe the word “dumped” doesnt sit well with you….so please replace it the word dumped with “reserved” on the bench. I guess that should sound more palatable to your ears.
And the fact also remains that as much as we revere Okocha today for all he did as a SE, players like Ahmed Musa have also done more than enough to earn reverence as a SE legend whether he is muslim or not, whether he is a northerner or not. I never compared Musa to Okocha…I only laid out what he has also given as a SE player to earn his place in the record books. I never brought up Ahmed Musa’s matter before…it was your tribal bigot of a brother who brought his name up.
Let anybody go and kill himself if he likes, the records still show till date that after Segun Odegbami, Ahmed Musa is the next best winger (goals and assist) in the green and white colours of Nigeria. And till when somebody else will score his 5th world cup goal…..Ahmed Musa once more remains Nigeria’s all time topscorer in the WC with 4 goals….despite being a winger. He has earned his status as a legend. Whoever it is that has problem with that should go for counselling.
Oh please, Okocha with all of his skills Frankfurth still went down, because he held on to the ball far too long or dribbled in dangerous areas and lost the ball, upon all of his skills he lacked end product. Something he found late in his career. Westerhof didn’t make him a starter @ the 1994 world cup at the 1998 he was better but most of his shots went into row Z. Ronaldinhos skills had end product even Kanu has a better end product to his skills and game thats why he achieved more in his career.
In fact after the lost I know it will be difficult to meet Denmark again maybe in 2026 by den computer wil be allowed in football
Basically it, you’ve said it all indiscipline cost us the game, his here making mouth
This is not the Real Reason, Amockachi is not tellimg the full story.. there was a division in camp Uche Ockechukwu/Okocha were in opposition to Oliseh/amokachi, Unc Pete Rufai( A very close family friend of mine, went to school with my Mom in Port Harcourt in the 70’s) and Co…. the Division was down to indiscipline. Similarity to 1994 where players did not want to follow the coach’s instruction to clear the ball when we were in front against Italy).
Anyway in France 1998 players (Oliseh’s Faction) wanted girlfriends/wives in Camp a day before the Denmark game and also because of the unpaid bonuses that faction promised not to play and were convinced only the night previously. so they didn’t give their all hence Unc Pete’s Shambolic performance in that game( it pains to say but I will call a spade a spade). So yes this was a case of Nigeria and Nigerians shooting themselves in the foot again like always and, choosing Money over Glory.
At this your age u still lie and tell ferry tale stories like a child. What sort of story is this??? You lost to denmark bcs of gross indiscipline spare headed by people like you (who were known as the mafia) in the team at the time. . Don’t try to pull the wool over our eyes bcs we know the story. I think it’s be better u just shut ur mouth than try to open partially healed wounds whose scars are still very much tender. These are the sort of ex internationals that we have as technical directors at the helm of football affairs. You can imagine his contributions to the growth of football in the country if he reasons this way. He would see white and call it black. see a spade and call it pick axe. Very pitiful.
Impostor!!!!! so u couldn’t come up with another user id other than mine???? Pls, house, this is a shameless smelly impostor. This is not me. Just breezed in after a long while and saw a post in my name. Whatever he says or has said before did not come from me and are not my views.
Smelly shameless impostor. Pls house. The views and opinions presented so far by this idiot of an impostor did not come from me in anyway. It is a shame that some foolishness people still feel so inferior to come clean regarding who they truly are.
At that world cup, Yekini wasn’t a starter.. All these soundbite popping up here and there is becoming annoying. Amokachi is a coach one day you will take over the Super Eagles and we will see how how your managerial skills are.. Yekini has passed his best @ the world cup in France.
Amokachi take over the SE…? God forbid. Forward ever backward never. This one that couldnt qualify for CHAN 2011…? Got his chance as care-taker coach of SE after Keshi was sacked and lost to Uganda on home soil…? Ah….On waht basis will he be hired as SE coach…? He should please stick to being a politcal appointee and skivvy to Sunday Dare.
Game management was one of the reasons we lost to Italy in US94. In an era where one ball was been used, westaholf was telling his to kick the ball out of the field when we are leading in other to kill off time. Players like Okocha was busy dancing with the ball and dribbling unnecessary.
France 98 failure was due to gross indiscipline on the part of the players.
Well, the deed has already been done. But we all have to learn from the past mistakes.
It is good to appoint a coach who knows the players well.
That’s reminded when Oga Rohr was in charge of the Super Eagles.
He kept using Ogalo while he did not believe in Osimhen, but that wonder kid showed his class when he called upon.
Please CSN do something about this website kę. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!