Thursday 8 October 2015

Vincent Enyeama row with coach Sunday Oliseh

Nigeria captain Vincent Enyeama announced his retirement from the national team after a bust-up with coach Sunday Oliseh on Tuesday night.

Enyeama arrived at the Nigeria camp on Tuesday, one day past Monday's deadline, after attending his mother's funeral over the weekend in his home town.

According to reports, Oliseh was unhappy about his captain's late arrival and demoted him at a team meeting after dinner, naming CSKA Moscow forward Ahmed Musa as the new captain.
"I was surprised," Enyeama, who has 101 Nigeria caps to his name, told ESPN FC. "So I stood up to explain my position and ask for an explanation, but the coach asked me to sit down.
"I insisted on speaking because I felt that with the years of dedicated service I have given to the country I deserve at least the respect of giving my own side. But he told me that either the whole team would leave the room for me, or I would have to leave the room for the whole team."
It turned out to be the latter as the Lille goalkeeper was expelled from the camp. It took the intervention of Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick to resolve the situation and Enyeama was allowed to remain with the squad.

The goalkeeper then indicated it is unclear if he will continue to represent Nigeria
"There has been a lot of incidents these last few months," he said. "I don't need it, the team does not need it, so maybe the best thing might be to step aside in the interest of the country so that the team can focus on football instead of distractions."
Enyeama withdrew from Oliseh's first squad following the passing of his mother, but officials were not pleased to see him turn out for Lille a week later.

But, according to Complete Sports, a source within the team's camp in Belgium, who witnessed the incident, narrated the dramatic confrontation that led to the initial expulsion and recall of Enyeama.

While the story doing the rounds is that the battle started because Oliseh shouted down Enyeama while the Lille keeper was trying to explain his late arrival in camp, it was learnt that was not exactly how it went down.

Oliseh, according to the source, had no issue with Enyeama arriving in camp on Tuesday instead of Monday, since the coach was aware that the keeper was recently bereaved and buried his late mum over the weekend.

But the clash started when, while holding a meeting with the players after their evening training session which Enyeama attended but did not participate in, Oliseh mentioned Ahmed Musa as the team captain. Enyeama was said to have rudely interrupted the coach's speech at this point, the Lille keeper insisting that he was the captain, not Musa.

This interruption apparently riled Oliseh, who ordered Enyeama to let him (Oliseh) address his players in peace. But Enyeama continued talking, raising his voice at the coach.

When Oliseh could not take it anymore, he ordered that Enyeama leave the venue of the meeting as he felt the keeper was undermining his (Oliseh's) authority.

When Enyeama refused to leave, Oliseh asked for the goalkeeper to be forcibly removed from the Verviers Hotel camp by security men.

But five senior players in the squad: Mikel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi, Ahmed Musa, Elderson Echiejile and Emmanuel Emenike, waded in and all went to Oliseh's room to plead on behalf of Enyeama.

Also there were telephone calls from the Nigerian Football Federation President Amaju Pinnick to have the matter resolved.

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