Saudi ’89 U-20 World Cup Flying Eagles defender, Chinedu Odiari, tells ’TANA AIYEJINA about the ‘Miracle of Damman’, playing against Luis Figo and why he chose education over football
After the 1989 U-20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, not much has been heard about you. What have you been doing since then?
After ’89, I went back to school. I actually left the country in 1991 for Zimbabwe where I played for one year before leaving for Italy. In June 1993, I went to the United States of America. And I have been there with my family ever since.
Close followers of Nigerian football expected you to move on to the Super Eagles after a brilliant outing at the U-20 World Cup. What happened?
Of course, I did. I went to the Eagles camp. As a matter of fact, they called me, Chris Ohenhen, Mike Onyemachara, Chris Nwosu, Bawa Abdullahi, Mutiu Adepoju, Tunde Charity and Sam Elijah. They called almost the first team of the Flying Eagles to the senior team. Some players reported, some didn’t. When we came back from the U-20 World Cup, some players left the country, especially the attackers. Personally, I wasn’t too keen about playing. All I had in mind was to complete my studies. Of course, I reported to Otta (camp), but the competition for places was too high and coupled with studies and club assignment, it wasn’t easy for me. So, I decided to take my club and studies first and I had to leave the country. I wanted to play football for a long time. I played for Reggiana when they were a non-division team and helped them to the third division in Italy. But I went to the US, continued with my studies. You know, in the US, you have the NCAA and Major League Soccer. I didn’t leave football entirely but I am happy to have studied Marketing and Enginerring to masters degree level.
Some of your mates continued with football and made money. Do you sometimes feel that you should have concentrated more on football rather than education?
No, because destinies are not the same. If I continued with football, maybe I would have been injured. I am not a failure and I don’t regret anything. I would have loved to continue playing but I think I made a wise decision. I am still working in the US, with an electrical company. I am just home for a while.
Was it easy getting selected into the star-studded Flying Eagles to the 1989 U-20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia?
It was very difficult. I remember there was a time we were up to 50 players in camp. But we had good coaches in Tunde Disu and Kelechi Emeteole; they did everything based on merit. At some point, Disu felt he was not giving us the competition we needed and he invited more quality players like Salisu Yusuf to camp. That is why every one of us merited a place in the final team; we worked hard for it and proved it during the competition. We also lived like one happy family.
You were on the bench when the Flying Eagles were losing 4-0 to Russia. But you came on for Oladuni Oyekale and the team started scoring…
Before the Russia match, I sprained my ankle. The Russian top striker (Oleg) Salenko is very good. We know him very well; he is good at shooting with both legs. Oladuni (Oyekale) was marking Salenko but the Russian got the better of him because he had more weight and strength. We were on the bench watching what was happening on the pitch. Coach Emeteole came to me and urged me to go in (to the field) despite my injury. He said I should go in and help out, that the team shouldn’t go home with such a record. And I said, ‘Okay.’ I had watched the game from the bench and I knew who our problem was: Salenko. When I got in, I told Elijah that we had to stop him. He (Salenko) made a wrong move and we got him where we wanted to and their attack broke down. I am a defender who doesn’t kick the ball anyhow. So, I made sure we had the ball on the ground and we were in control. With God on our side, the goals started coming and we could have finished that game without resorting to penalties, had Peter Ogaba converted the last minute chance he had. Thank God we came out victorious eventually. But our major problem was Salenko.
How did you react when Nduka Ugbade scored the equaliser six minutes from time?
We still believed we could win the match without penalty kicks. When we play you in the first 15 minutes, we can assess your strength as our opponents. It’s either we go with Dimeji (Lawal), (Chris) Ohenhen or even Mutiu (Adepoju) as a decoy. Our coaches were calm because they believed in us. We had two full-backs, Bawa Abdullahi and Onyemachara; they were wonderful. You can’t pass those guys. So it was difficult to beat us when we came back.
How did the team celebrate after beating Russia 5-3 on penalties in what is now regarded as Miracle of Damman?
We didn’t celebrate; we took it as one of those matches. We took every match as it came. We knew that we did a great job coming back from 4-0 to win but we still had two games to go. We needed another match to get what we wanted (the final). It was when we beat the USA in the semi-final that knew we had to play Portugal again. They were they only team that had beaten us right from our qualifiers. They beat us in the group stage. We believed that we could have beaten them but stress and lack of exposure denied us victory. We approached the game same way we used to but if we were more exposed than them, we could have calmed down and won the final game.
Is it true the squad became divided after the victory over Russia?
There was never a division in the team right from our qualifiers in Africa to the U-20 World Cup proper. That team was never divided. There was nothing like that. People try to make up stories out of nothing. Is it because of the party we went to? All the teams were invited to a party by one of the kings in Saudi Arabia. So, why shouldn’t we have gone? We went and came back. That story is not true.
After the quarter-final heroics, the Flying Eagles were tipped to win the U-20 World Cup but instead you lost to Portugal 2-0 in the final. What happened?
It was lack of exposure and fatigue. We knew what to do but we couldn’t do it. I keep asking myself, ‘What happened?’ The only answer I get is that all we needed was to calm down, check them and 20 minutes to go, we go out at them. I bet you, we could have come out victorious. Though they had a very good team, we were good as well.
What was it like playing against Portuguese superstar, Luis Figo?
It was later that Figo and other stars in the Portuguese team started making waves but it was an honour to play against Figo. My career is filled with honours and enjoyment.
Did your parents support you playing football?
They were against me playing football especially my mother. She always threatened to beat me up if I played football. The football pitch was very close to my father’s house in Onitsha. I will go to play but when I come back, I will remain downstairs until someone comes. I will follow the person upstairs so that I don’t get a beating from my mother. But I would still get same punishment. At some point, she said, ‘If that’s what you want, go ahead.’ I didn’t regret it because she was protecting me. I was playing with older people. I understand everything she did then because if I see my kid playing against older people, I will protect him.
What are your best and worst moments?
I’ve had so many good moments. As for worst, I think it was a match ACB played against BCC Lions of Gboko at Onikan stadium in 1990. I was playing for ACB, we had the players but we were in deep crisis. I played very well in that game. We needed a win and we were winning 1-0 but in the last minute, there was a cross and the ball hit my leg and went into the net. It was an own goal. The game ended 1-1. It’s a game I don’t want to remember. It hurt me because the team was in shambles right from the management to the players.
Who were the attackers that gave you the toughest time?
Jimoh Balogun, Victor Ezekwesili and Mutiu Adepoju were difficult to play against. They had different qualities. Don’t give Ezekwesili the chance to see a ball in flight inside your 18-yard box because he will hit it or volley it. And he has power. So you have to make him uncomfortable. Balogun will run you down till you kick him and kick him and he gets tired. That’s when you can have some peace. Adepoju is very skillful. He will dribble you if you go too close. They were very good.
How would you compare Nigerian players in your time and now?
We had better players than now. We started losing the standard after we came back from the US ’94 World Cup. That’s when the quality dropped. Before, you could see the commitment but nothing like that now.
Are your children into sports?
I am married to a Nigerian athlete; she represented Nigeria in high jump. We met in the US and we have four kids; two boys, two girls. My little boy plays football, the other one plays basketball while my first girl is like her mum; she is into athletics. My last daughter is still very young.
There have been complaints by ex-Nigerian footballers that government has abandoned them after retirement. Do you share same opinion?
We always complain about nothing. What have the old players done to get themselves together? If you are not together, nobody will take care of you. Yes, they are not taking care of the players. But what have we done? You must start something first. We can organise testimonial games and bring in top personalities in the society. We can raise money through that avenue. That money can be used to help the ex-players.
Are you hoping to give back to the game that brought you to limelight?
I want to open a small academy for kids between 12 and 15 years old. If you don’t make a decent grade in school, you are not qualified for registration. That will be the first requirement. It’s not only about football alone; you must excel in school as well. We need to encourage our youths to go to school. Even though there is so much money in sports, without knowledge, the money is like nothing.
Age falsification has become a scourge in Nigerian football. Did you and your teammates play with your true age at the ’89 U-20 World Cup?
To the best of my knowledge, we were not more than 21 years, which was the age limit for the competition then. I hear people say certain players were dropped from the U-17 after MRI test. What if there was a mechanical error? There is a possibility of that. But if the age falsification is real, then the administrators have to find a way to curb it. We have so many youngsters of the right age to play the game.
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