The major problem of the senior national team, the Super Eagles, has been linked to lack of ‘good midfielders’. To some pundits, since the exit of Friday Ekpo and Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, the team has not been ‘blessed’ with a good replacement and this has been seen as part of the problems facing the team.
Friday Ekpo
Ekpo, fondly called ‘Zico’ in football circles, is regarded as one of the good players to have come out of the country and till date is still being referred to as an authority in the game that he has contributed immensely to.
According to him, he was christened Zico because of his resemblance with Brazilian soccer hero, Artur Antunes Coimbra, popular known as Zico.
“Everyone knows Zico to be a very good free kick taker and a good dribbler also. I tried to emulate him because we have the same playing style and it did not take me much time before I fitted myself into it.
“Because of that, my fans started calling me Zico, and that was how the name stuck on my head and I got more encouraged by the day,” he said.
Going down memory lane, he recalled his playing days with the Super Eagles and how he lost a spot kick for the team against the Black Stars of Ghana in an African Nations Cup qualifier in 1991.
His words: “I had so many great moments in my career, and the most striking one being what happened at the National Stadium in Lagos in a 1992 African Nations Cup qualifier against the Black Stars of Ghana in 1991.
“There was a penalty kick awarded in favour of Nigeria and Stephen Keshi, who was assigned by the chief coach to take all penalty kicks, declined to take it and none of my Eagles’ teammates was also ready to do it.
“I stepped forward, took the kick and the ball went over the bar. I was nailed by Nigerians for missing that spot kick. I remembered the late Muda Lawal who was at the stadium told the then Nigeria Football Association (NFA) that I would make amends.
“I remembered that the boots I wore wasn’t my real size. It was given to me by Keshi who brought them from Belgium. The NFA didn’t allow me wear the one I bought personally from Holland on ground that it wasn’t Adidas. So all the passes I made that day were not the best as the boots were slightly oversize.
“True to Muda Lawal’s predictions, I rose to the occasion in the Super Eagles’ next game which was also a Nations Cup qualifier and scored an important goal.
“After the game, I became the toast of Nigerian soccer fans across the world. It was so memorable.
“Another striking one was being the captain of the Abiola Babes team that won the Challenge Cup title first in the history of Ogun State. Later on, they added more titles.”
He also recalled his playing days with Shell FC of Gabon and was quick to state that his goal against Stationery Stores FC of Lagos in a Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Club Championship still lingers in his heart.
He said: “While in Gabon, I was a true professional player and being taken outside the shores of the country and brought back to play against a Nigerian team, I should play like, act and give results as a professional, and all these I did against Stationery Stores of Lagos in 1991.
“I scored the only goal for Shell in that match which ended 1-1 and till date that goal stood out as the best goal I ever scored in my entire career.
“Sometime, I play it in my heart the way the goal came from the right to the left and I had to send the ball back the way it came with a curling banana kick to an impossible angle and the goalkeeper did not attempt to stop the ball as it sailed into the net.
“At the first leg played in Libreville, I had scored a goal against Stores in a 2-0 victory after losing one penalty kick. But Stores officials said it was a fluke, and I told them I would score another goal in Lagos in the second leg.
“Stores Team Manager then, Yomi Peters, also accused some of his players of selling out when he saw them with me in a club house in Libreville after the match where I had invited them for entertainment as my countrymen.
“But before the second leg encounter, I visited my ‘godfather’, the late Chief M.K.O Abiola, at his home in Ikeja and jokingly he said he knew I would score in the game and appealed that I shouldn’t score more than enough. He gave me a cash gift of N50,000 while I was leaving.
“At the second leg, played at the National Stadium, Lagos, I actually scored that fantastic goal to level scores at 1-1 and gave Shell of Gabon a 3-1 aggregate win to progress in the championship. It was one of my happiest days on earth. Though I was playing against a team from my fatherland, I had to do my job as a professional.”
Ekpo, who said he voluntarily retired from active football to give up-and-coming players a chance, was not happy that there has not been a good replacement for him.
He said: “I decided to retire when the ovation was loudest. I was not injured; I thought it wise to give younger players chance to exhibit their talents. I thought that my continued stay on the stage was blocking the younger ones, as I was still the best in my position in all clubs I played for. And my continued stay would mean deliberate suppression of the up-and-coming stars.
“But I feel so bad that we don’t have good replacements for some of us that have left the scene. It wasn’t that after me and Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha and some other great players, that Nigeria has not been able to raise good midfielders; there are good ones, but not as exceptional as we were, and that is not something to cheer about.
“The coaches have a duty to look inwards and allow players in the local league and the foreign-based to express their skills.
“The coaches need to be patient with them and gladly correct the flaws they notice in the players’ playing style. If these are done, these boys will be able to exhibit better skills than we exhibited during our time.
“The bottom line is going back to the grassroots, and coaches should be in a hurry to discover talented players who will be great in the future.”
He also had words of advice for the up-and-coming players. “They should be hard working, disciplined, focused and respectful if they really want to go far in their chosen career.”
Ekpo’s fact file
• Started his football career with Savannah Bank FC of Lagos
• Moved to National Sports Commission (NSC) FC
• One of the pioneer players that formed the defunct Abiola Babes FC of Abeokuta in 1980
• Played for Leventis United of Ibadan during their progressive era
• Played for Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri
• Played for Calabar Rovers of Calabar
• Joined Shell FC of Gabon in the 1989/90 season to 1992 season
• Had a brief stint in Saudi Arabia with top club, Al Ghazi
• Came back home after two years to join Sharks FC of Port Harcourt
• Played for Katsina United of Katsina
• Played for Mobil Pegassus FC of Eket
• Played for BCC Lions of Gboko between 1998 and 1999
• Played for Enyimba International FC of Aba in 1999
• Last played for Rangers International of Enugu where he hung his boot
• As team captain, he won the FA Cup title for Abiola Babes in 1985 in the final match against BCC Lions
• In 1986, he won the League title, the Challenge Cup and the Unity Cup for Leventis United of Ibadan, and that same year he emerged the League Highest Goal-scorer after Davidson Owumi’s reign as Goal King in 1985
• Played over 15 matches for Nigeria: four Nations Cup matches, three Nations Cup qualifying games and seven World Cup qualifying matches.
• Joined the Super Eagles when Coach Paul Hamilton was in charge and was a regular ahead of the Italia ‘90 World Cup
•Played all the qualifiers except for the game against Angola in 1989 where Sam Okwaraji died
