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In this concluding part of the interview with Daniel Amokachi, the former Everton forward reflects on his Wembley experience when he won the FA Cup and gives his view on next week’s final between Arsenal and Aston Villa, JOHN EGBOKHAN reports

He said because of their success that Nigerians were always going to demand for instant success from the present team. “Nobody will give you that time because the business that goes with football is now so much as teams want instant wins. The one thing you can’t ask Nigerians for is time because Nigeria have gone through a lot of successes, and this makes it difficult for NFF to give you time.

“Once you are hired, you have to start winning but people fail to realise that football is not like that again as other teams are also preparing, so it takes some time for the results to start coming in. It takes time to get to greatness. Westerhof had about five years in Nigeria and those years gave him the chance to build a very formidable team .

“His success was not overnight. He had good players, had a good tactical plan and more than anything had enough time to go about experimenting with different styles until he got the perfect formular that worked magic for us. But he had time, which is a luxury today as nobody would give you any time to show them success.

“If a coach doesn’t do well, journalist will attack him. Nigerians don’t understand how to be patient when the Eagles lose but they understand when Arsenal lose a match at home. It is funny because Nigerians watch the Premier League in England and support some of the clubs there and tend to understand when Chelsea or Manchester United lose their games.

“Everything is fine when these foreign teams that they support lose, but if the Eagles lose, all hell would break loose. Nigerians must understand the realities when your team lose because football is about business and it is changing, which is something that we have to live with it”

Nigerian league is growing

A product of the Nigerian league, Amokachi knows the local terrain so much as he played and coached in the top flight with Ranchers Bees and Nasarawa United respectively. Amokachi believes that the Nigerian league is gradually coming up again after a long time in the doldrums. “Our league is growing. Forget what happened to Kano Pillars and Enyimba in this season’s Champions League, our league is growing and there are rooms for improvements.

Both teams crashed out of the competition because during the qualification, our league wasn’t on and it was hard for them to get solid preparations for such matches. “The most important thing that we need is for the league to be stable, which is what we are getting now. The league board is doing well, teams are going away to win games, which was a difficult thing to do when I was coaching Nasarawa United.

“The referees association is doing a very good work. We need to commend them for standing up to be counted because if you have fair officiating, teams will play good football without fear of bias. “I have never doubted that we have quality players in the Nigerian league and so what I am seeing now does not surprise me. They should just keep doing a good work.

“Because things are improving by the seconds, our coaches should also take up the challenge by upgrading their knowledge. They should go for football courses abroad or wherever because knowledge is important The league board can organise seminars and courses for these coaches because we need need to keep upgrading. The State Football Associations should not wait for the NFF before training the coaches in their states, ditto for the NFF, who should not run to the Sports Ministry for assistance.

“We have experienced and competent coaches who can be the facilitators of these coaching courses. We have people like Duamlong, Bewarang, Onigbinde, Laloko, Chukwu and Amodu. So the expertise is certainly there and I see no reason we can’t have such courses periodically”.

FA CUP TITLE WITH EVERTON

By some twist of fate, Amokachi wrote his name in England football folklore when he won the FA Cup with Everton in 1995. It was the first time a Nigerian raised in Nigeria was going to win the prestigious competition at the hallowed Wembley Stadium. And by sheer coincidence or clever planning, Amokachi, whose twins, are playing football and schooling at the same time, were later to go to the Everton academy to chase their soccer and academic careers.

Going back memory lane on his FA Cup title-winning feat with Everton, Amokachi said “the beauty of the competition was that it gives underdogs the chance to overpower their highly rated opponents. “During my time, Everton were battling relegation and got to the final of the FA Cup against Manchester United. We were the underdogs and against Manchester United, we knew it was going to be tough.

“But in the FA Cup, anything can happen, so we looked up to that day with hope of winning. Playing at the Wembley was always going to be special for any player because in those days, it was only when your team got to the final that you could play on the Wembley turf. It was reserved for the FA Cup final and matches of the English national team.

“It was an hallowed ground, not to be desecrated by any kind of footballer. It was just for the finalists and now also for the semifinalists. Most great players like Pele and Maradona regretted not playing at the Wembley stadium. I remember when growing up in Kaduna that we only watched a maximum of three matches per month on television and the FA Cup was always a special one for us because it came at the end of the season. We always used to gather around the television set to watch the final of the FA Cup.

“So I was just picturing this scene in my mind as I was entering the field for the match against Manchester United, knowing that my family would be watching me as I was stepping out. “It was a sweet feeling when we won the Cup and I am happy that other Nigerians like Nwankwo Kanu won it back to back and Efen Ekoku , who they used to call a British-Nigerian also won.

ASTON VILLA TO BEAT ARSENAL

This year’s final is going to be interesting because we have an underdog versus giant final. Aston Villa are the underdogs while Arsenal are the giants. I always stay behind the underdogs and hope that Aston Villa, who have been through a lot this season will beat Arsenal. Aston Villa have been transformed by Tim Sherwood, Arsenal are in a really good form. They have changed a lot. Wenger is now flexible with his style. Before last year’s FA Cup triumph, Arsenal did not win any title for some years. Wenger knew he had to change his style, so that results would come.

People may complain about your style but what counts is winning. You can say Chelsea are boring but they have won the league with three matches to go. That is why Jose Mourinho is the a great coach . He does not care what you say, what counts is getting results, not playing attractive football. Arsenal have learnt from that and are getting results but I don’t want them to get the result against Aston Villa

TWINS EVERTON SOJOURN AND SOCCER ROMANCE

“My twins are fine, They are in Minnesota and should be graduating this year. They have already been given scholarships to play soccer and study at the Kanes University in Pittsburg. I had to take them out of Everton when I saw that their soccer and academic scores were not tallying up “The twins want to play soccer but I insisted that they must go to school. We struck an agreement that they would combine both.

I want them to go to school so that they will have something to fall back to after retiring. I don’t want them to make the mistakes some of our teammates made after retiring from football and finding nothing to do. “They are more skillful than me and I am happy for them. They emerged the top scorers in their school’s league.

I thank God for giving the grace to see them this far and hope for the best for them in the future. They will be better players than the Bull by the grace of God. I am a strong believer in God, who made me to achieve all that I attained in my career:, added Amokachi.

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