Nigerians will not forget 1988, a year that soccer promised so much but left a clutch of heart attack cases sprawling across the field. Three continental finals, three defeats. Indeed it was a horrible season when expatriate coaches failed the nation.
It began with Manfred Hoener, the German who led the Green Eagles to the Maroc’88 Nations Cup. Nigeria played in Casablanca, Group B, alongside Pharaohs of Egypt, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions and Harambee Stars, Kenya.
The Eagles were good in their group, scoring early goals. In the 1-1 draw with Cameroon, Samuel Okwaraji hit a record first minute goal before Roger Milla’s equalizer in the 20th.Proceedings were well handled by referee Bester Kalombo of Malawi. Rashidi Yekini’s fifth minute strike was one of the three goals that subdued the Harambee Stars. The game with Egypt ended goalless.
The semi finals against Algeria was another thriller. After a 1-1 draw in full and overtime, penalty kicks decided. The Eagles won 9-8. That was, perhaps, the first time all eleven Nigerian players were involved in a penalty shoot out.It was the match that earned left back,Bright Omokaro, the nickname, ‘Ten ten’, after he injured an opponent, to maintain balance as the Nigerians were playing 10 against 11.
The grand finale against Group foes, Cameroon, was pure robbery. Mauritanian referee, Idrissa Sarr. did not only disallow Henry Nwosu’s clean header, he awarded a dubious penalty which,Emmanuel Kunde, converted to give the Lions the trophy. It was their second cup triumph and again, losers were the Green Eagles.
One take away from Maroc ’88 was that despite the loss, the team was rechristened,Super Eagles,by Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, Chief of General Staff. Hoener would later fail at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games and ran back to Germany in penury as the NFA owed him wages. It took the intervention of Justice Chuba Ikpeazu to bail the coach out.
Ranchers Bees never won the Challenge Cup which was ticket to the Africa Winners Cup. As DIC Bees, they lost to Enugu Rangers in the 1983 finals. They lost again, in 1987 to Abiola Babes. The Abeokuta team was disbanded by proprietor, Chief Moshood Abiola, at the end of the 1987 season. That offered the Kaduna side a continental slot.
Argentine Coach, Alex Dominquez, was assisted by ex- Eagles captain, Sam ‘Zagalo’ Opone. They did not lose any match until the semis against Inter Club, Congo. And that was in the Brazzaville away leg.
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Ranchers had stars: Salisu Yusuf, Dominic Iorfa, Ayo Ogunlana, Abubakar Balarabe, Tajudeen Oyekanmi, Daniel Amokachi Captain Ali Nayara and keeper Daniel Abdullai. They got to the finals in their first attempt, playing their home matches in Bauchi, Kano and Ibadan respectively.
The first leg of the finals against Tunisia’s Club Athletic Bizerte, ended goalless.The second leg decided in Tunis gave the hosts a slim 1-0 victory. Another sad day for Nigeria.
Iwuanyanwu Nationale also benefited from another withdrawal. Leventis United, 1987 League champions, ceased to exist after winning the trophy. The Naze Boys took their position and went continental for the first time. Some players from Ibadan moved across the Niger to join the new representatives.
Dmitris Theophanis, the Greek coach of Leventis joined Nationale with stars like Andrew Uwe, James Etokebe, Uwem Ekarika, Mathew Onyema, John Benson and goalie, Edward Ansa. That was a team like no other in Nigeria.
Iwuanyanwu were so good. In the quarter finals of the 1988 Africa Cup of Champion Clubs, now known as CAF Champion’s League, they defeated Tonnerre Kalara of Cameroon. George Oppong Weah, played for the Yaoundé team in what became his last game for an African club before moving to Europe, to join Monaco.
The Nigerians qualified for the finals to face Algerian second division side, Entente Petroles Setif. With a first leg 1-0 advantage, Iwuanyanwu were taken to cold Constantine to play on artificial turf. During a stop over in London, Chief Sebastine Williams, was shocked to learn that the boys had no synthetic boots. He took them to a sports shop to sort that out.
The first half ended scoreless. Then referee, Sene Badara, of Senegal sent off Theophanis. Tony Ukeachu stepped in. Frday Ekpo got a red card, Thompson Oliha, was seriously injured and at the end, the Algerians won 4-0 to lift the trophy.
From Hoener, to Dominquez to Theophanis, three finals, all lost. Nigerians have not found themselves in such situation ever since. The year 1988 was quite strange.
