BY ADEBOBOLA ALAWODE
Barely two decades after the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, erstwhile Super Eagles goalkeeper, Ike Shorunmu has disclosed why some Super Eagles couldn’t make the cut to the Mundial.
The former Super Eagles’ goalkeeper trainer said some of the players couldn’t make the team because they were asked by then coach of the team, Adegboye Onigbinde had asked what he called “Senior Players”, to call him if they want to be part of team to the Asian countries.
The former Shooting Stars of Ibadan shot stopper said when he heard that Onigbinde had asked all interested players to call him to indicate their readiness, he promptly called some of his teammates in the national team about the latest development and some of them told him that they were not ready to call Coach Oniginde but he had to because he wanted to be part of the team.
Meanwhile, a member of the team to the Mundial Ifeanyi Udeze said he didn’t call Coach Onigbinde to be part of the squad as he was handed an invitation based on his form then. Though he corroborated the fact that some players actually called Onigbinde he said those that didn’t call were left out because the coach felt they were too big to be part of the team.
According to him: “It is true that some “senior players” actually missed out of the train to the 2002 World Cup because they failed to call Pa Onigbinde because we heard in camp that some of the big players felt that after qualifying Nigeria for the Mundial they were now being asked to call before they could be handed a call up to the national team.”
