It is very hard to find anything to write about that are physically and spiritually uplifting since the global cessation of all sports-related activities. Every subject matter is drowned by the unprecedented fear, panic, desperation, public unrest in many parts, hunger, disease and even deaths, related or unrelated to the dreaded scourge of humanity \u2013 the Covid-19 virus \u2013 that pervades the entire planet.<\/p>\n
I keep my own spirit lifted by recalling Late Nelson Mandela\u2019s words cast on marble:\u00a0\u2018Sport has the power to change the world\u2019<\/i><\/b>. I use them as fuel for my spirit, constantly tasking my creativity to find something, anything, that will reduce the psychological effect of this unwanted pandemic. With sport rendered impotent, I go back to history to drink from the well of nostalgia, from the great deeds of sporting heroes of the past who illuminated our lives with virtuoso performances that have kept the flame of hope alive that we shall overcome and become a great global Black nation one day when we put our acts together.\u00a0 Sport is that constant reminder of who we are, and what we are capable of achieving as a country and as a people. We have the greatest resource of all to achieve these \u2013 humans with abundant capacity.<\/p>\n
Today, I want to take a sip from my experience of 17 years ago, when, as one of some 35,000 spectators in the terraces of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, I watched a young Nigerian football player, only 19 years old at the time, ignite the fire of a whole new generation and provided the last missing jigsaw in a team that Clemens Westerhof had been putting together for almost 4 years.<\/p>\n
I am not so sure that every Nigerian saw what I saw on that day, but it remains etched on my mind. I believe that day was the real beginning of an unprecedented era in Nigeria\u2019s football history. True, what happened on that date was a collective team work, an all-round fantastic performance with all the players at their best, but one star shone brighter than the others in the constellation.<\/p>\n
It was July 24, 1993.<\/p>\n
I remember that day like yesterday. It was an African Cup of Nations qualifying match against the\u00a0Walias<\/i><\/b>\u00a0of Ethiopia. The\u00a0Super Eagles<\/i><\/b>\u00a0won very easily, a high scoring 6-0 victory.\u00a0 <\/i><\/b>What caught the eye particularly on that day, was this prodigious young player who was making his debut appearance for the\u00a0Green Eagles.<\/i><\/b>\u00a0For 90 minutes he gave a virtuoso performance. On that day the search for a worthy successor for the \u2018irreplaceable\u2019\u00a0Mudashiru Babatunde Tiamiyu Lawal<\/b>\u00a0at the defensive midfield position,\u00a0Number 4<\/b>, ended.<\/p>\n
That Clemens Westerhof gave a debutant the opportunity to start in a position that was one of the most technical in any team, that required special traits and talents, meant that the player must be good.\u00a0 Nigeria had a well-established tradition of excellent defensive midfield players \u2013 strong, skillful, great passing ability, great tackling skills, a good vision, good passes and critical transition skills of linking attack and defense.\u00a0\u00a0Even today, as one goes through the list of those that have played that position, a picture emerges of the quality that has always been needed to play in that position. Let\u2019s start from the present and go backwards.<\/p>\n
Today, that position is held by a player considered to be one of the very best in the English Premiership, and touted to be a contestant for the best in Europe \u2013\u00a0Wilfred Ndidi.<\/b><\/p>\n
Before Ndidi, for several years, there was\u00a0John Mikel Obi<\/b>, a world class defensive midfielder converted to that role by the\u00a0\u2018Special One\u2019<\/i><\/b>,\u00a0Jose Mourinho<\/b>. There was also\u00a0Ogenyi Onazi\u00a0<\/b>who held his own until an injury sidelined him.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Before them, way back into the history of defensive midfield play, were exceptionally gifted players that included\u00a0Sani Mohammed, Nwabueze Nwankwo, Mudashiru Lawal, Christian Madu, Ademola Adesina, Paul Okoku, Mutiu Adepoju,\u00a0<\/b>all truly terrific players.<\/p>\n
To be given that shirt could only have meant one thing \u2013 that\u00a0Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh<\/b>\u00a0was really good.<\/p>\n
On that fateful day, I watched a performance such as I had not seen before then, nor probably since. If near perfection was possible in football, that was it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>Oliseh<\/b>\u00a0hardly put a foot wrong on his debut for Nigeria. He put up what must go down as a\u00a0masterclass<\/b>\u00a0on\u00a0defensive midfield\u00a0<\/b>play. His every touch and move were flawless. He tackled intelligently and cleanly. He shielded the ball effectively when in possession. He did not hold on to the ball unnecessarily, releasing it quickly and with deadly precision. He delivered short and long passes with both feet. He had an effective dribble and shot well from a distance. His transition with the ball from defense to attack was slick and a beauty to watch. After his limited forays upfront, he returned quickly to be in the first line of defense when the team lost possession.<\/p>\n
Was he playing from instinct or following the coach\u2019s instruction? Either way, it was a perfect interpretation.<\/p>\n
The greatest beneficiary of his immaculate display was marksman,\u00a0Rashidi Yekini,<\/b>\u00a0who was in his full element on the day, capitalising on the brilliant passes lofted from Oliseh\u2019s feet as if measured with a tape, and delivered safely onto his running path behind the Ethiopian defenders that did not know what hit them, until they had produced 3 of the 6 un-answered goals that were scored on that day.<\/p>\n
The whole team played very well on that day, and\u00a0Oliseh\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0contribution to the overall performance was huge. He\u00a0<\/b>shone like a million stars.<\/p>\n
For most of the years after that day Oliseh owned that position until 2002 when he was unceremoniously dropped by Coach Adegboye Onigbinde<\/b>\u00a0on the eve of the\u00a0Korea\/Japan World<\/b>\u00a0Cup<\/b>\u00a0for reasons unconnected to his consistent good performances.<\/p>\n
Sunday Oliseh<\/b>\u00a0was in a class of his own as a defensive midfield player.<\/p>\n
It took the calibre of a world class player like\u00a0Mikel Obi,<\/b>\u00a04 years later, to fully wear Oliseh\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n
Mutiu Adepoju,<\/b>\u00a0a fantastic player of the same era, a very solid defensive midfield player as well, who could actually do more damage going forward with his shots or head than Oliseh, had to be given an alternative position for him to find a place in the Eagles.<\/p>\n
Sunday Oliseh<\/b>\u00a0did not have the quantum of\u00a0Muda Lawal\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0or\u00a0Sani Mohammed\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0tireless running, or\u00a0Paul Okoku\u2019s<\/b>deft and exquisite touches on the ball, or\u00a0Demola Adesina\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0drive from defense to attack, or even\u00a0Mutiu Adepoju\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0goal scoring instincts, but he had a combination of a little of all of these qualities plus an abundance of his own – tackling skills, defense-splitting passes with both feet across any distances, a superb organizational ability, a vision of where every team mate was, and the most accurate of short and long passes delivered with deadly timing and precision.<\/p>\n
At the end of that match in 1993, my conclusion was that a tape of\u00a0Sunday Oliseh\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0performance on that day needed to be produced and distributed to all football schools and academies worldwide, for a perfect demonstration of the\u00a0art of defensive midfield play<\/b>.<\/p>\n
It was indeed a\u00a0masterclass.<\/b><\/p>\n
Sunday Oliseh<\/b>\u00a0went on to hold on to that position for 9 years, through all of his career during the most glorious years of the\u00a0Green Eagles<\/i><\/b>, and, later, the\u00a0Super Eagles<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is very hard to find anything to write about that are physically and spiritually uplifting since the global cessation of all sports-related activities. Every subject matter is drowned by the unprecedented fear, panic, desperation, public unrest in many parts, hunger, disease and even deaths, related or unrelated to the dreaded scourge of humanity \u2013…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-football"],"gutentor_comment":0,"yoast_head":"\n