I was jittery, unprepared for my Eagles debut –Shorunmu

Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Ike Shorunmu, in this interview with EBENEZER BAJELA, talks about growing up in Mushin area in Lagos, missing the 1994 World Cup, and his close shave with death at the ‘92 AFCON in Mali, among others You grew up Mushin in Lagos and rose to become the country’s number one goalkeeper at a point.

How do you feel about the national team’s reliance on players born abroad?

I don’t know, I guess that’s the new trend now. During our time, we like to do the job at home here by bringing unknown players to the national team and make them known. But now I guess it’s the new trend and that’s how they want to do their own thing.

How tough was it growing up in Mushin? Did it shape your life?

You know if you’re a ‘Lagosian’ you have to be smart and it helped me in life because if you act like a gentle person in Mushin, they will harass you. You need to put some hard work and learn how to fight taekwondo or be a boxer, or else they will take you for a ride anytime you go out. So, apart from being a goalkeeper, I also learnt boxing to defend myself.

You missed out of the Eagles’ 1994 AFCON-winning and the USA ‘94 World Cup squads. How did you feel?

I didn’t feel so bad because I was one of the youngest goalkeepers in the team back then. The ‘94 World Cup was the first experience for the national team and those ahead of me had more experience. The then coach Clemens Westerhof called me to his room and said I still had a long way to go in my football career, while the careers of some of the older ones were coming to an end. I do appreciate that he called me to talk to me because I was part of the team from the beginning till the last day, before they departed for the tournament in America. In between these periods, I learnt a lot from the experienced goalkeepers Peter Rufai, late Wilfred Agbonavbare and Alloy Agu.

Again in 1998, injury ruled you out of the France ’98 World Cup. Did you feel cursed?

I believed it was just a natural thing. A lot of people said several things, but I refused to have that belief because I know that God knows about whatever happens to a man. Probably it was my destiny not to appear at the 1998 World Cup because everybody thought I would be there. I was supposed to be the first choice then, but I believe it was not just my time. In 1994, they said I was too young to be part of the team and in 1998 injury ruled me out but I thank God that in 2002 I was able to man the posts for Nigeria at the World Cup.

The Eagles had a poor outing at the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan following pre-tournament crisis. What happened?

A lot of things happened. You don’t just disband a team that has been together for so long when you were going for a big tournament like the World Cup. While we were in Mali for the AFCON in 1992, I had an injury during the course of the game against Ghana and I was rushed to the hospital. The sports minister then didn’t come to visit me at the hotel until a day to our semi-final game against Senegal. He came to the training ground to see the team and gave us a pep talk. After training, he apologised to me for not coming earlier. But (Sunday) Oliseh reacted to what the minister said and things went awkward. Then we lost to Senegal and came third at the tournament.

When we came back from the tournament, the team was disbanded because there were allegations that the coaches and players were trying to sell out the country. The whole matter was blown out of proportion and they said they needed to raise a new team for the World Cup. A lot of people were against the idea of disbanding the team that played and qualified the country for the World Cup and raising a new team for the tournament.

While the debate was ongoing, the minister died after he was involved in an accident and things got worse and Chief Adegboye Onigbinde was brought in as the coach to take the team to the World Cup. Onigbinde said that whoever wanted to play for him had to call him, but most of the older players said they were not going to call him because he was part of the delegation that came to Mali with the minister and he saw what transpired between the players and the minister. I was in Switzerland when a top editor in Nigeria called me and told me to call Onigbinde because the other players had attended the World Cup before and I had a golden opportunity to also play at the World Cup before I hung my boots. So, I told my teammates about it, so that they won’t feel like I backstabbed them and they gave me the go ahead to call Onigbinde and that’s how I was called to the team to represent Nigeria in Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002.Did going to the World Cup with a new set of players affect the team? It did because Onigbinde said he wanted purely young players. He is the coach and that is what he feels and wants to do. It was already too late to build a team then, though we had a couple of experienced players in the team then. Preparations too were not that encouraging, lots of arguments from Ireland to Korea and some coaches were not happy with some of the players and the team spirit was low. They just wanted to go there, do their thing and get out.

You suffered concussion during an AFCON game in Mali in 1992. Can you recall what happened?

Firstly, I was able to survive by the grace of God. Secondly, they had equipment in the ambulance at the stadium that was able to bring me back to life; I was supported with oxygen in the ambulance that revived me till we got to the hospital. That was all I could remember. It wasn’t easy because it’s like carrying the whole world on your head and being the last man, anything I do will be obvious. You know if a striker misses a goal, there is a midfielder to cover him up and if the midfielder makes a mistake, there’s a defender to cover up but there’s nobody to cover up for the goalkeeper, what you have is your net and that means you are conceding goals. So, you have to be well prepared mentally and physically and have the belief that you can do it, that you can survive the pressure because there’s a lot of noise. My first game for Nigeria was an ECOWAS Cup in 1991 at the National Stadium, Lagos but my first competitive game was a qualifier for AFCON against Uganda. I actually didn’t believe I was going to play that match because I was on the bench and Agbonavbare, within the first 15 minutes, got injured and I wasn’t prepared, I was jittery for the first 10 minutes and in the second half I gained all the confidence needed and we won the game.Can you recall your best moments as a keeper?I had a lot of good moments, but the World Cup tops it all because the whole world is watching you, every nationality, everybody is watching you; the world is at a standstill to watch you. I can remember it was against Argentina and I was under pressure because it was my first World Cup. In 1994, I was too young, in 1998 I had an injury, but 2002 was an opportunity to display my skills.

Do you have any worst moments?

My worst moment was a game in Zurich in 1997, we were leading 1-0 and playing away to Lugano FC and with just two minutes to the end, there was a freakish shot from about 25 meters and I thought I was going to save it but surprisingly I fumbled it and it went in. You know, Switzerland is not a very big country and its about two and half hours back to Zurich from Lugano. In the bus back home, the other players complained from the beginning of the journey till we got to Zurich because my blunder caused us some bonuses. I got home around 2am but couldn’t sleep till morning. Back again at the training the next day, it was like a nightmare because there was a funny guy in the team who continued making jest of me.

Can you remember your best save?

There were lots but I’ll pick the World Cup save where Ariel Ortega tried to chip over me and at first it looked like it wasn’t going in but when I realised it was going in, I took two steps back and tipped it across the bar.

Who is the toughest striker you’ve ever faced?

It was definitely Gabriel Batistuta and this was at the World Cup in 2002. In that game, my boot got torn. I had 60 per cent advantage of getting to the ball first, but all of a sudden, I don’t know how it happened, Batistuta got there before me and I rushed out and tore my boot. I had to collect Vincent Enyeama’s boots to continue the game because I didn’t have extra boots.With fame came wealth during your playing days.

Was it easy keeping off the girls?(Laughs)

It wasn’t easy but you can only do what you can do and leave the rest. Thank God, there was no scandal. I can’t lie to you, because meeting girls is part of the game. But you just have to look for a way to balance it. I can’t say I don’t like girls because I’m not homosexual, I just don’t do beyond my limit. It’s just like you’re managing your wealth, how do you manage your wealth? You don’t misbehave with your money and I don’t misbehave with my stardom, I’ve always been myself and been nice.