AJIBADE OLUSESAN Since the Nigerian league became professional more than 30 years ago, only one out of all the players who have emerged as top-scorers has had a stellar international career. AJIBADE OLUSESAN writes that poor mentality, inconsistency, bad choice of clubs and ill-luck conspired to deny these stars the opportunities to fly with the Super Eagles
Olumide Harris took the Nigerian league by storm with his right blend of skill, power, accuracy, pace and biggest of all, poaching abilities; he scored breathtaking goals to emerge top scorer with 14 goals in the 1994 season and to many football pundits, the apparent heir to legendary Rashidi Yekini had been unearthed.
Yekini was in the twilight of his glorious career with the Eagles, and Harris’ style was the closest in similarity with the legendary striker at that time, so it was a big relief that such a precocious talent emerged from a massive outfit like Shooting Stars of Ibadan.
Luckily for the chap, Nigeria was about to host the rest of the continent, and many people saw the Africa Youth Championship as a veritable platform for the youngster to launch his international career. He was supposed to be one of the stars of the tournament. Still, his shambolic showing in the competition typified the ignominy that befell coach Fanny Amun’s national U-20 side that year.
Harris had a disastrous campaign, and he never recovered until his career faded into oblivion a few years later. He never got the chance to realise his potential despite being the league’s hotshot. Harris’ story was a replica of the uneventful careers of all the top scorers that have emerged since the Nigerian league became a professional division in 1990.
Pattern of wasted opportunities
The Nigerian league has thrown up exciting football stars who have gone ahead to become legends of the game. Austin Okocha, Sunday Oliseh, Nwankwo Kanu, Ike Shorunmu, Mutiu Adepoju, Alloy Agu, Peter Rufai, etc., are some of the greats who had their roots in the domestic league.
There is a pathetic picture of how the domestic league hasn’t produced top scorers who have made a success of their careers, especially with the national team, apart from ex-Kano Pillars hit man Ahmed Musa, who has been a key figure in the Super Eagles in the past few years. Ishaya Jatau scored an impressive 17 goals for Iwuanyanwu Nationale in 1990; in fact, his record stood for almost 20 years until Musa broke it in 2009/10.
But Jatau had a wretched international career with the Eagles; the striker scored a miserable one goal in his meagre five appearances for the national team. His only goal came in the Nations Cup qualifier against the Benin Republic, and despite sojourning to Cote d’Ivoire for greener pastures, he neither won over the then coach Clemence Westerhof nor that of Nigerian football fans.
Richard Ojomo was the star of the 1991 season; Bendel United’s striker scored 12 goals to win the Golden Boots, but he was too old to even get a call-up to the national team. More so, he could not reproduce such sterling form in the following season. It was a Ghanaian who won the highest scorer award in 1992. Arthur Moses weighed in with 10 goals as a Stationery Stores star. Tony Nwigwe was the one who succeeded him after the Iwuanyanwu Nationale striker hit 13 goals in the 1993 season.
Westerhof gave Nwigwe some calls, but he never made it to the squad lists. Ben Agadah succeeded 1994’s top shot, Harris, when he racked up 12 goals for Gombe United to emerge the top scorer in 1995. He, too, lacked the quality to break into the Eagles. It was the turn of Peter Anyilobi, of Enyimba, who scored nine goals to win the highest scorer award in 1996.
He travelled to Germany in search of professional football, but it looked like his prospect of an international career disappeared with him in that European country. Paul Kpoughoul was the first person to come close to equaling Jatau’s record, but his 16-goal effort for BCC Lions in 1997 was not enough.
The former Jasper United’s career faded shortly after, and that was not different from the story of Hassan Minda of Gombe United, who scored 14 goals to win the highest scorer award in 1998. Iwuanyanwu Nationale’s Emmanuel Agbo scored 14 goals in 1999, which earned him an invitation into the U-23 team preparing for the Sydney Olympics, but he failed to break into the squad and never got a chance in the Super Eagles.
Not much has been heard of him since he travelled to Austria to join SW Bre- genz. Peter Ijeh w a s something like a complete striker; he used both his feet and had a menacing aerial threat, and it wasn’t surprising he scored 14 goals for Julius Berger to claim the highest scorer’s gong in 2000.
He travelled to Europe shortly after and continued to bang in the goals for his side in Norway; he thoroughly deserved to be called up to the national team in 2002, but his national team career finished just after a miserable showing in the international friendly match against Jamaica in Lagos.
It was as if the same script was written about the national team career of Uche Okereke of Rangers, who emerged top scorer with 13 goals in 2001 but had just one cap, an unconvincing showing in that away game against Zambia in Chingola, which ended his international career. In 2002, Victor Ezeji of Dolphins was a joint top scorer with Joetex Frimpong, who is a Ghanaian, with 16 goals each. Ezeji ended his career as one of the most successful domestic league players, but he never had a stay in the national team. He was capped only twice for Nigeria.
First, coming as a substitute in an African Nations Cup qualifier against Angola on September 8, 2002, and another LG Cup match against Libya in Tripoli, where he scored his only international goal in a 2-1 loss to the hosts.
Few Exceptions, many disappointments
There were also joint top scorers in 2003 with Chibuzor Ozurumba and Endurance Idahor netting 12 goals apiece. The then Inwanyanwu Nationale star Ozurumba was a natural Number 9; he had the build of a proper centre forward with abilities to use both legs, and his aerial prowess was also top-notch.
He is a league legend after playing for six different clubs in Nigeria with an impressive goal ratio. However, despite his consistency and records, Ozurumba never had the opportunity to play for any of the national teams. This is a pain the lanky forward endured throughout his career and never shied away from registering his disappointment.
He believes he did enough to get at least a call-up but was surprised to get overlooked by the Eagles’ successive coaches. Idahor was sleek; too skilful to be a natural striker, but the former Julius Berger star didn’t quite fully re- alise his potential before he died in the line of duty in Sudan.
He was a household name in Sudan, where he moved to in 2006 and was even the highest scorer in his first season at the club. In four years, he scored 118 goals in 176 appearances for the Omdurman side, but sadly, he never played for the Super Eagles. Another player from Julius Berger, Kabiru Alausa, emerged as the highest scorer in 2004 when he netted 13 times.
Although the lanky striker started his career as a defender, the then Berger coach Fatai Amoo believed he would thrive as a forward, and the player proved the tactician very right. Alausa dominated the local media for his exploits in 2004, and there were calls to integrate the forward into the senior national team set up, but his inability to follow up on his previous season’s exploits put paid to his Eagles’ hopes.
Timothy Anjembe, Joseph Akpala, Charles Omokaro, Ibenegbu Ikechukwu, Ameh Aruwa, Abubakar Babale, Akarandut Orok, Ahmed Musa, Jude Aneke, Sibi Gwar, Victor Namo, Mfon Udoh, Gbolahan Salami, Godwin Obaje, Anthony Okpotu and Junior Lokosa were the subsequent top scorers, but only Akpala and Musa had long stints with the Eagles.
Akpala, who was a former Insurance player and emerged as the highest scorer with 13 goals in 2005, played nine times for Eagles, and his only goal came in Nigeria’s 1–0 away win against France in 2009. Musa, on the other hand, is the league’s top scorer with the most decorated international career.
He is currently the captain of the Super Eagles. Salami, who scored 13 goals for Warri Wolves to emerge top scorer in 2015, could have broken into the bracket of highest scorer who made it big with the Eagles but after just 13 international appearances and three goals majority of which came in action for the home-based Eagles at the African Nations Championships (CHAN), the hard-fighting striker faded away. He is now playing for Najran in Saudi Arabia.
Why they failed
Ex-Shooting Star midfielder Adepoju said a poor attitude was the major problem of these former stars. He said an average Nigerian player insolently believed he had arrived after a string of good performances.
“It is about consistency, our players are not steadfast, they believe they have arrived after scoring a couple of goals in a season, ask them to repeat it the next term, they wouldn’t be able to.
The hunger and passion for football are not there. Look at Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi; they have been top performers for more than one decade.
Every season, they want to better their previous achievements, but how many of our players are ready to maintain the previous levels they attained? It is a big problem,” he said.
