JULY 1st, 2001, began as very normal day to people worldwide at least for the main reason that it came just like every other day except for those attached to world and African football. That day was the day for the return leg fixtures of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the African teams.
In fact, that weekend was mapped out in the football world as an international break, a period created by FIFA to inject national football into the clubs’ calendar. This day was mapped out for some matches to be played towards the qualification for the FIFA world cup scheduled for Korea and Japan2002.
The Super Eagles were to meet Sudan in Khartoum while the Black Stars of Ghana travelled to Monrovia to engage the Liberian National team in Monrovia. As at that time virtually all the teams in the group had the potential to qualify with two games left to play. That made it even dicer than any other group in the African zone qualifier.
The home side even hyped the game the more when it was falsely announced that the game would be taken to the far hot zone of Port Sudan about 825km from Khartoum, a clear steady drive of over 7 hours. Even the confirmed venue of Omdurman, a town about 15km from Khartoum was not spared the false narrative of being too far, too hot with a minimum temperature of 50 degrees Celsius and too hostile an environment.
That was the mindset most of us had before leaving Nigeria. So, we were coming for a two-way battle because anything short of a win may spell doom to Nigeria and a win for Nigeria may be very difficult and may elicit a high level of hostility.
We arrived in Khartoum two days before the Nigerian contingent on the 28th of June, 2001 through Ethiopia Airline from Lagos to Addis Ababa, I had ample time to visit the El-Merrikh stadium in the famous Omdurman and was shocked that it was less than ten minutes’ drive to Khartoum, with the weather registering a maximum temperature of 40 degrees Celsius in the high afternoon, far below what was bandied about.
My reports on the reality on the ground helped to allay certain fears in the minds of Nigerians. Perhaps the greatest tension to me was our inability to land in Khartoum from Addis until after three attempts. The weather was so inclement. When we eventually landed, we found ourselves in the wrong area and had to taxi through rough patches. It was very scary, but the full story will be for another day.
On the day of the match Sunday July 1st, 2001, serious tension enveloped the officials and a few journalists that were around – Onochie Anibeze, Vanguard, Hameed Adio – NTA and Emeka Odikpo – Radio Nigeria emanating from hearsays. Fears of the unknown forced us to check into Corinthia Hotel, Khartoum, a very expensive but luxurious hotel overlooking the Nile. At least our safety was ensured to the best of human disposition.
We got to Omdurman to behold a retinue of security operatives surrounding the entire edifice of the El Merrikh Stadium, the 43,000-seater stadium which is the home of the Sudanese club, El Merrikh. The reason: President, Omar el Bashir and others were observing the Jumat service right at the centre of the pitch. The handful of the Sudanese around were ecstatic and expectant that they would win the day. What do we do? The stadium manager advised me to set up my commentary position on the sideline so I could be close to the team and the police just in case!
The friendly President Al Bashir came to the sideline to greet us on learning we were Nigerian journalists and jokingly gestured to us with three fingers that they would win by 3-0 to the great applause of his people and to my great amusement.
I was so close to the technical area along with Hameed that the reserve players and their crew could hear our commentary including the players on the pitch and the referees, especially, when the ball went into touch. At some point NTA lost its signals and Hameed had to join me.
At a point in the match when Kanu Nwankwo was injured and the match was held up, I quickly asked the Nigerian coach closest to me at the time, Stephen Keshi, to speak to me, but he instead dragged Amodu Shuaibu the Chief Coach to me to say a word or two and he obliged, a gesture unprecedented in international football psychology.
At least tension had simmered down as the Sudanese were already 4-0 down through goals from Austin Okocha and Julius Aghaghowa, one goal each and two goals from Yakubu Aiyegbeni. At this point they had switched their support to Nigeria, and that greatly reduced the tension. When Kanu was still writhing in pain and lying prostrate on his back, I was miffed that the referee did not give a penalty or a possible red card.
The Officials heard us and much later in the hotel, the referee taught us the difference between “the law of the game and the spirit of the game”. He told us that giving a penalty was unnecessary and could change the mood and the atmosphere to something else.
A match that generated so much tension virtually became the smoothest in the world cup qualifiers. Even the referee gave me a thump up, apparently, he heard when I praised a good decision he took. It was a match that we sat close to the two teams and even the referees. It helped us a lot in conducting interviews with those concerned during half time and at the end of the match. The local fans lined up the road waving and singing praises of the Nigerian players up till their hotel. The Sudanese security team had to disperse them when some of them had overstayed their welcome. The Sudanese fans said they preferred Nigeria qualifying ahead of other teams especially Ghana.
The final qualifying match was relatively stress free as the Black Stars of Ghana were beaten 3-0 ultimately qualifying Nigeria for the 2002 FIFA World Cup ahead of the other teams in Group B, namely Liberia, Ghana and Sudan with 16 points.
All the participating teams had very good memories of their visits to Port Harcourt as each in turn had a very warm and “brotherly” handshake with the then governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili in a hard currency way, a gesture, Joe Lartey, a Ghanaian and a commentator with Radio Nigeria at the time, described as a “win, win, situation”.
