01082020 - You're cruel insentitive for care of repentant terrorists, abandoning us

30 — SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 1, 2020
Day TIJANI BABANGIDA
Tijani Babangida grew up in the same neighbourhood with
Daniel Amokachi and Garba Lawal in Kaduna. The trio played
childhood football together and years later, found themselves
playing for Nigeria. They were discovered by the same man,
Sani Nagogo, who nurtured them in the backsreets of Kaduna
before they shot to national and international limelight.
Babangida spoke with us on his childhood dream, journey
through life as a footballer, his fears, achievements and how
he broke into the national team. Babangida spoke with Jacob
Ajom. Read on.
How and when did you start
playing football?
I grew up watching DIC Bees,
Kaduna Rocks and UNTL Football
Clubs in Kaduna at that time in
the 1980s and early 1990s. I
developed a lot of interest in
football when I saw most of my
idols play. I made up my mind that
I wanted to become a professional
football player. Even when we
were playing as children,
watching the big players and the
great Pele of Brazil on videos, it
encouraged me more to go into
football. Another thing was that I
heard that Pele and other
international stars were being
paid for playing football. And I
was wowed by that piece of news
because I thought they were
having fun on the field and
making money at the same time
wowed me. For me that sounded
like a bonus because I thought
playing football was fun. That
attracted me more to football.
About what time was this?
When did you actually start
playing football and who
discovered you as a player?
There was this man who was
playing with UNTL called Sani
Nagogo. He was wearing jersey
number 7 at that time. His game
inspired me. From there I signed
with Arewa Textiles, playing in
the state league at that time.
I came to limelight through the
Manua Adebajo Cup, when
Kaduna State won it for the first
time. I played a major role in the
cup triumph where I emerged the
Most Valuable Player of the
tournament. We also had Daniel
Amokachi in that team. From
there I signed for Arewa Textiles.
At Arewa Textiles Niger
Tornadoes spotted me. I moved to
Tornadoes where I played for two
seasons.
While at Tornadoes, I was
invited to national U-23 camp by
coach James Peters. At U-23, we
went to Holland on a training tour,
after which we attended the 1991
All Africa Games in Cairo, Egypt.
At the Games, Amuneke and
myself emerged as the shinning
stars. After the Games, Amuneke
found himself signing for a club
in Egypt, while I moved to
Holland.
Fantastic. Your rise was
meteoric indeed. In Holland, you
replaced your compatriots,
Nwankwo Kanu and George
Finidi at Ajax?
I played with JC Rhoda first.
When I got to Holland I signed a
contract with JC Rhoda but the
club loaned me to VV Venlo,
where I played for one and a half
seasons before I went back to
Rhoda. I played three seasons
with Rhoda because I had to
justify myself. It was after Rhoda
that Ajax finally signed me.
Yes, like I said before, you went
to Ajax after Kanu and Finidi. Did
you feel any pressure in terms of
expectation, particularly after the
exploits of the two Nigerians
there? How demanding was it at
Ajax?
One thing you must understand
here is that when they take you
from Africa to Europe, it takes
sometime before you can adapt to
their system. But my case was
different because I was already in
Holland for over four seasons and
they had seen me as a good
replacement for Finidi George,
which was, of course, very
difficult. It was hard to find a good
player of that calibre because
Finidi was a phenomenal player.
So that was how I found myself
because they had already
checked and found me worthy of
being a good alternative to Finidi,
even if I was not exactly like him,
I was still good enough to fill that
gap and be part of their team. That
was what happened.
Going to Ajax had its own
challenges. It was challenging
because Finidi had done so much;
they won the Champions League,
so you could see how he made it
difficult to find a good
replacement who would be as
good as himself. Anyway, I did my
best; he was a winger and I was a
winger who scored a lot of goals.
You noticed I scored a lot of goals
at Ajax, more that any Nigerian
that was in Holland. That year we
went up to the semi final of the
Champions League. I scored in
the quarter final against Athletico
Madrid in Spain to take Ajax to
the semi final of the Champions
League after extra time.
After the semi final, what
happened? You didn’t get to the
final?
We lost to a Zinedin Zidaneinspired
Juventus side. That was
the first time I was seeing him and
he did not disappoint as he was
playing fantastically. We drew in
Holland and lost 3-0 in Turin.
Juventus got to the final to face
Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund
defeated them in the final.
You mentioned Zidane who was
a fantastic player, today he is a
fantastic coach. It is not common
to find good players becoming
good coaches. What is your
thought on Zidane?
Even before we played against
them, we had a player who had
played together with him in
France. He warned us about a
certain Juventus playmaker
called Zidane and that we must
watch him closely. It was very
unfortunate because on the match
day, he caused us a lot of havoc
and emerged Man Of The Match.
Zidane was a very fantastic
player, you had to see him play
because no description could
adequately capture his enormous
skill and displays.
As a coach, he is doing
marvelously too, because when he
left Real Madrid, the club was
dropping like a plane that was
being pulled down by the force of
gravity. And when he returned to
the team, he succeeded in taking
the club back to ascendancy and
won the La Liga title. He has done
in Champions League
*My form at Ajax raised questions on my exclusion
from 1994 Super Eagles squad
*Nigeria’s joke at 2002 World Cup
*What happened to Oliseh’s Eagles
* NANPF must make the system work to benefit the players
very well as a coach and a player,
which you already pointed out
how difficult it is to find a good
coach who was also a good player.
Most times you don’t find good
players transforming into good
coaches, who can teach younger
ones to become better than
themselves. Zidane has proved
beyond doubt that he is as good a
coach as he was the player
everybody loved to watch play.
Back to yourself, you had a
glowing career in the national
team. After your 1991 All Africa
Games medal, how was your
progress to the Super Eagles?
It was very difficult because in
Nigeria, players graduate from
one stage to another. If you did
well in U-17 you would be moved
to U-20, from U-20 to U-23 and so
forth. And very few players find
themselves in the Super Eagles.
After Cairo ’91, I went back to my
club and I was doing very well.
Westerhof at that time did not
invite me to the national team for
the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations.
After the Nations Cup, there was
a lot of pressure on coach Clemens
Westerhof from the international
press. They were wondering how
I could not make the national
team, despite my great form at my
club. It was the international
press that forced him to invite me
to the 1994 World Cup, although
before my invitation, he had made
up his mind that I was not going
to the World Cup. Eventually, I
made the 23-man squad as one of
the alternate players because I
was young and doing very well.
If I had played in the 1994 World
Cup, I would have given Nigeria
cause to cheer because I had all it
took to have made that team; I
was young and a natural predator
who was always hungry in front
of goal. I ended up watching the
World Cup from the tribune
because I was not
registered for the
tournament, so I couldn’t
play. But after the World
Cup, I found myself in
the Olympic team, the
Dream Team, under
Coach Jo Bonfrere. We
went to the Olympics
and you already know
the story, we won it. It
was a fantastic outing for
Nigeria and Africa.
From the Olympics you
knew then the team was
a dream team. From the
technical crew to the last
man in the team were
automatically promoted
to the Super Eagles. . I
was part of the qualifiers
for 1998 Nations Cup,
scoring some fantastic
goals as well. We went to
the World Cup and at the
World Cup, I scored a
goal but it was a very
boring game because we
were losing 4-0 before
my goal. However, it
remains my greatest goal
because it put my name
in the history books of
the World Cup.
How was it like, scoring a
World Cup goal?
I told you it was a boring game
because we were losing. But for
me, it is the best goal in my career
because it puts me among World
Cup goal scorers. It was historic.
So, that goal is very important to
me.
I was happy but I could not
celebrate much because of how
the game ended.
After the World Cup we came to
the Ghana/Nigeria 2000 Africa
Cup of Nations where I started as
a bench warmer and then became
a regular from the semi final when
I scored two quick goals against
South Africa. Those two goals
enhanced my CV to a high level
as they catapulted Nigeria to the
final of the tournament which we
lost to Cameroon.
From there we started qualifiers
for the Korea/Japan 2002 World
Cup. We had a very difficult game
against Ghana in Port
Harcourt, where I
also scored two
great goals that
qualified Nigeria
for the World Cup.
After that we
went to the
Nations Cup in
Mali where we
won a bronze
m e d a l .
Unfortunately, that
was where our
problem started. We
lost the semifinal
match and had
problems with the
officials. It was
unfortunate that barely
two weeks to the
World Cup, many
players in the
squad were
dropped. It was
a big joke. The problem was so
unfortunate because I don’t think there
is any country in the world that can try
such a joke and succeed. Nobody can
imagine such a joke even in countries
with developed and sustained football
traditions. That was my story with the
Super Eagles. I did not play in the 1994
World Cup. If I had, I would have played
in three World Cup tournaments but I
only played in two – 1998 and 2002.
Let’s go back to that AFCON 2000
semi final match against South Africa
in Lagos. We all knew you as a winger
who, originally, operated from the right
but on that day, you were played from
the left. What did coach Bonfrere tell you
before that match?
Well, it was a strategy by the coach,
which I found very difficult to accept.
We had some issues but the coach
insisted I must play from the left and I
had no choice but to obey the coach and
do his bidding. I couldn’t do otherwise
because he was the coach and luckily, I
went in and did my best. I had a
memorable game, scored two fantastic
goals that are still being talked about
in world football today.
That was the first time I was seeing
a natural right-footed winger
operate from the left side, but it is
common today in modern
football.
At that time, the system
wasn’t regular for you
to see something
like that. But at
the end of the
day it paid
off. That is
where
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