Following claims by former Schalke 04 forward Chinedu Obasi that he was dropped from the Super Eagles squad for the 2014 World Cup over his refusal to pay bribe some members of the backroom of that team have responded.
The crew led by late Stephen Keshi had Daniel Amokachi as one of the assistants and the former Everton forward aired his views on the allegations in an interview with online portal the Cable.
“Why come forward with such now when the man in charge is no longer alive to answer it?,” Amokachi said.
“Even look at it, this happened in 2014 and six years after you are coming forward with such claims? Why wait till now?
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“It doesn’t make sense to bring such an issue when the head is no longer alive to respond to you?.
“I am not saying such things don’t happen. Up till tomorrow, this thing do happen in African football but for us to have a change, when such happens, come forward with such. Be the sacrifice so as to prevent others going through the experience.
“It is not about one person, it’s a revolution, a change, that if we start, it will change a lot of things in our football.
“This issue of bribe taking or collecting in our football is not a one way thing. Agents of players will come and meet a coach to offer money for their players to be taken.
“It’s a two way thing. Sometimes, players are the ones that will even go to the coach to say my agent said he will pay for me to be part of the team.
“You will also see some administrators and coaches who have turned agents that will try to be influencing things from the side.”
Another of Keshi’s assistant Valerie Houandinou gave an entire different opinion on why Obasi didn’t make the cut insisting that the then 27 year old wasn’t better than any of the player in the team hence didn’t make the squad to the tournament.
“The question is, who could he have replaced among the strikers then?,” Houdonou asked.
“He was invited like every other potential players that could make the World Cup then because the coaching crew wanted to take the best to Brazil then.
“He failed to make the list because he could not displace anyone in the team”, he told same portal.
In a sharp contrast to the opinion provided by the two people mentioned above, the then media officer of the team Ben Alaiya claimed Obasi wasn’t fit for the tournament as he was injured at the time of the World Cup in Brazil.
Let’s drop this foolery. Obasi was dropped because he had a knee injury. I was the media officer then. Let him name those who demanded bribe from an injured player. My name is Ben Alaiya and I hate cheap blackmail. Apart from the Big Boss, all of us are alive to answer him. Even Yobo as captain was almost dropped because of the same knee issue. Abegiiiii”, he said.
More than anything else the unconvincing opinion of the trio on the reason behind the dropping of the forward could mean that Obasi’s claim has some facts attached to it or they simply don’t know the real reason why the coach who is no longer alive didn’t pick the forward.
