In a classic shoot first and ask questions later, the West Bromwich
Albion striker, Osaze Odemwingie, has attributed his recent
outburst
against the
Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi, to anger arising from a
feeling of betrayal by the coach.
Odemwingie had, at the wake of
the release of the team list for AFCON 2013,
taken to twitter to make
some disparaging comments against the Super Eagles gaffer and the
Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.
The out of favour Super Eagles
striker also called the chairman of the NFF Technical Committee, Chris
Green, ‘names’ over his exclusion from the AFCON squad.
The
England based forward has now said he made statements, which were made
in a fit of anger, after he had made it known to his coach and colleagues
that he was set to travel for the January 2013 Nations Cup in South
Africa.
In an interview with selected Nigerian journalists, the
West Bromwich Albion striker admitted making some of the comments
credited to him, but was also quick to make some clarifications on
calling Green ‘names,’ saying he was only bitter about his exclusion.
He
described Green as a good man and one of the few on the NFF board,
alongside the President, Aminu Maigari, whomhe knows personally and
would not want to offend; though his anger has portrayed him to be at
‘war with everybody’.
”I remember it was Green that settled my
case with Siasia then ,but I was too angry when he called me over this
matter, and was impatient to listen to him, and my comment was not
directed to him personally but to those who made the decision. But I
think I over reacted then,” Osaze said.
On his face-off with Keshi, the former Locomotive Moscow forward revealed that “I called the
coach two or three times within that period ,maybe two or three days
before the list was made public and told him of my commitment to be part
of the Nations Cup, and have toldmy coach I will be going to the
Nations Cup.”
According to him, “I told the coach I was ready to
report to camp by January 3rd, even before other professionals start
reporting to camp, if I was in his programme for the Nations Cup; and
even told himto feel free to drop me if I was not in his programme.
“I
felt betrayed after that seeming heart-to-heart discussions with the
coach few days to the release of the team list and he could not hint me I
was not in his plan for the Nations Cup. For me it was not professional
and I considered it a betrayal and lost my cool given all the
arrangements I had made towards the Nations Cup,” he said.
Odemwingie also revealed that he felt pained and miffed by “some comments on why I
was dropped ranging from being arrogant to asking for the captain’s
band; and I concluded the federation wanted to freeze me out of the
national team after ten years of serving the country with commitment and
dedication”
“I don’t mind being asked to give the younger ones a
chance ,even though I still have five years to offer at the
international level, but I only think it would be proper to be
honourably pulled out of the national team and not ‘disgraced’ out of
the team after years of dedicated service to Nigeria,” he said.
The
West Brom star argued that though his international career is over in
the light of these controversies, which he noted “were unfortunate and
regrettable,” he believes “there is need to correct somewrong
impressions out there that I am always fighting with every coach,”
“But
what people don’t know isthat my issues with all the coaches from
Samson Siasia toLars Lagerback and now Keshi had to do with purely
football matters, not administrative or asking for more money for
players.
“My case with coach Siasia dates back to the 2008
Olympics, and had to do with insufficient jerseys and all that; with
Lagerback it had to do with how I was treated and Ivoiced it to him
personally at the World Cup, and now being treated unfairly.
“Imagine
talking with someone two to three times over an issue and few days
later you begin to hear a different story from the person, who was in a
person to tell you point blank, ‘you are not in my plan for this,” he
said.
The versatile forward concluded by saying “I am human
and open to error by the way I may have taken the issue, and regret the
whole controversy, and want to put all this behind me now and focus on
my club career, while wishing the team the best of luck as a Nigerian.”
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