'I begged them' - Oliseh reveals NFF instructed him not to invite Mikel, Emenike, Enyeama to Super Eagles 

Former Super Eagles midfielder Sunday Oliseh has shed light on the difficulties he faced during his tenure as the head coach of the Nigerian national team. 

Speaking in an interview session on Elegbete TV on YouTube, Oliseh detailed the numerous obstacles he encountered, including issues with certain players and a lack of support from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Oliseh, who served as the Super Eagles coach from July 2015 to February 2016, shared his reasons for resigning from the position. 

"I coached the Super Eagles for fourteen games, won four, we lost only two games. One was a friendly against Congo in Belgium," he said. 

Despite this, Oliseh revealed he was not paid for four months, while his assistants went unpaid for six months. Additionally, he fell ill and received no support from the Federation, forcing him to spend thousands of dollars on his treatment.

"After being unpaid for four months, and my assistants being unpaid for six months, and after me falling sick and not getting any support spending thousands of dollars to cure myself, and still being laughed at by some of your media friends for falling sick. I resigned because I didn't get support," Oliseh stated. 

He emphasized that Nigeria was still on track to qualify for the 2017 Nations Cup at the time of his resignation, needing only to beat Egypt.

"I left the job and Nigeria was still on track to qualify for the 2017 Nations Cup. Nigeria needed to beat Egypt and qualify."

Oliseh also revealed that the NFF instructed him to ignore three specific players who had reportedly caused problems for the previous coach, Stephen Keshi. 

"When I became coach the Super Eagles had failed to qualify for the previous Nations Cup tournament under one of the best coaches we have ever had, Stephen Keshi," Oliseh explained. 

He noted that there was already a significant "rot" within the team upon his arrival and the NFF identified Vincent Enyeama, John Obi Mikel, and Emmanuel Emenike as the problematic players.

Despite these instructions, Oliseh pleaded for the opportunity to convince the players to return to the team and align with his philosophy.

"They had asked me not to invite the players anymore to the Super Eagles. I begged them to give me the opportunity to talk to them. Let me share my philosophy with them and let's see how it goes."

Oliseh recounted his efforts to reach out to these players. He described driving over 400 kilometers to meet with Enyeama, taking him out to lunch, and spending a day with him to explain his vision for the team. 

''When this happened, I called the captain of the team, Vincent Enyeama. I drove almost two hundred kilometers to his place with my assistant, took him out to launch, watched him train, spent a day with my captain, and explained the philosophy to him.''

He also faced issues with Enyeama just before a crucial match against Tanzania.

"We were playing on Friday, everybody came into camp, but on Wednesday, Enyeama was not there. He informed us on Wednesday evening that he was not going to come because he was going to bury his mother who died three months ago," Oliseh revealed.

Meanwhile, Oliseh's attempts to contact John Obi-Mikel were less successful.

"I sent messages to John Obi Mikel, but he never answered my call. He never called me back. He totally ignored me and played the big ego.'

''I went to London with my assistant to speak with Mikel and Victor Moses.' I gave them an appointment at the hotel, two teammates at the same club. Moses came to the meeting, the other one refused to come.'' 

On Emenike, he expressed regret over his decision to retire from international football.

''Before I go further, the biggest regret I had with the Super Eagles was when Emenike called and said I am retiring as a national team player.' Working with Emmanuel Emenike was the best thing I had as Super Eagles coach.''

''He was a great and nice guy. He was against what the NFF had told me about him," Oliseh revealed.

Adeyemi Adewale

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