’Tana Aiyejina
Super Eagles stars Sylvester Igbonu and Izunna Uzochukwu have said they earned their places in the national team on merit and not because of their relationship with erstwhile coach Sunday Oliseh.
Both players had played for amateur side FC Ebedei – a club owned by Oliseh’s brother, Churchill – before moving on to Danish club FC Midtjylland. But they only got call-ups to represent Nigeria after Oliseh was appointed Eagles coach in July 2015.
“I’m not Sunday Oliseh’s boy; I’m surprised when I hear people say I’m his boy. I remember when I was in Russia and the coach called me; he actually went through my details, checked my profile and he thought I was one of the players who could help the team,” striker Igbonu, who plays for FC Ufa in the Russian topflight, said.
“He (Oliseh) called me and told me, “Sly, hope you can give the team 110 per cent?” And I told him that what I needed was the chance, and that if I got it, I would give 150 per cent.
“If you say I am Oliseh’s boy because I played in Ebedei before, Izunna also did. We were called up at the same time but at some point, Izunna was no longer invited. If Izunna was Oliseh’s boy, he should have remained in the team.
“If I didn’t perform very well, I wouldn’t have got the next call up. So, it’s a surprise but everyone has a right to their opinion. All I need to do is to keep working hard and improve my game.”
In a twist of fate, Igbonu and Uzochukwu have been excluded from the Eagles since Oliseh quit the post in February.
However, Uzochukwu, who also debunked the Oliseh boy tag, said he would always give his best to the Eagles, if recalled to the team.
The OB Odense midfielder said, “I’ve heard about people saying we are no longer invited to the national team because we are Oliseh’s boys. But it’s not true. I got a chance in the national team and I gave my best though injury didn’t help matters but I assure Nigerians that if I get another chance, I will do even better and I will keep pushing and improving my game.”
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