Former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh has said many of his teammates during his time in the Nigerian national team found it hard to play with Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha.
However, he claims Okocha listened to him whenever he spoke with him.
Speaking on Athlete’s Podcast, Special Delivery with Emmanuel Babayaro and Matthew Edafe, Oliseh said Okocha was gifted but his excesses were difficult to cope with for defensive players, and they lost it many times.
“With Jayjay, most people would say he was a difficult player to play with, as teammates, as defensive players. But I personally had a way, an understanding with Jayjay that made it easy for me to play with him.
“They knew I was the only one who could say to Jayjay that ‘my man, release the ball and Jayjay would release. There was one particular game, he was doing it and we lost the ball. And the ball was coming and Taribo was going crazy about him. And he lost the ball one more time, and I told him ‘hey my man, I’m tired of running.
“And the next time he went on dribbling and lost the ball. I left the man. I let the opponent pass and they almost scored. Taribo went crazy, he crossed ahead of me and I had to grab him. Don’t joke with Taribo. He wants to win. He’s fanatical about winning,” Oliseh recounted.
