Oliseh Reveals Some Super Eagles Players Were Angry When Okocha Dribbled

Ex-Nigerian international Sunday Oliseh has revealed that during his time with the Super Eagles of Nigeria, some players were not pleased with Jay Jay Okocha’s excessive dribbling on the pitch.

The former Borussia Dortmund of Germany star made this revelation public during an Athlete’s Podcast, a Special Delivery with Emmanuel Babayaro and Matthew Edafe. Oliseh said Okocha was gifted but lamented that it was difficult for defensive players in the Super Eagles to cope with it because they had to cover each time he lost the ball during dribbles.

“With Jay Jay, most people would say he was a difficult player to play with, as teammates, as defensive players. But I personally had a way, an understanding with Jay Jay that made it easy for me to play with him,’’ the former Nigerian national team coach said.

“There was one particular game, I’ll share a story with you. We were playing and Jay Jay was doing his normal thing and Nigerian fans were going crazy. In our team, as much as we disagreed, every player was a king in their position. We had match winners – most of the players could win games but if someone did something bad in the group, the defenders always tell me, ‘Sunday tell am o’.

“They knew I was the only one who could say to Jay Jay that ‘my man, release the ball and Jay Jay would release. There was one particular game, he was doing it and we lost the ball. And the ball was coming and Taribo was going crazy about him. And he lost the ball one more time, and I told him ‘hey my man, I’m tired of running. And the next time he went on dribbling and lost the ball. I left the man. I let the opponent pass and they almost scored. Taribo went crazy, he crossed ahead of me and I had to grab him. Don’t joke with Taribo. He wants to win. He’s fanatical about winning.”

Okocha and Oliseh played together in the Golden Generation of the Super Eagles in 1994. They won titles such as the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles, and were both part of the gold-winning 1996 Olympics team.

Sources

Completesports

Wikipedia

Featured Image Credit: Goal