US-based ex-Super Falcons striker, Nkiru Okosieme, talks about her childhood, early days of Nigerian women football and more in this interview with ‘TANA AIYEJINA
What are you doing now?
I am a coach in Atlanta Georgia, United States.
What is your opinion about the poor performance of the Super Falcons recently?
The last performance of the Super Falcons at the African Women’s Championship wasn’t really good but the younger teams like the U-17 and U-20 seem to be doing well, although we have not been able to transfer the success at the junior levels to the senior team in recent times.
What do you think is responsible for this?
I won’t say I know the cause for sure but it could be a variety of things. One of them could be lack of preparations; nobody knows the level of preparations the team had before going to competitions. Poor preparations lead to poor performances. It can also depend on the state of the women league. Is the league good enough to produce good players for the national team that can hold their own in Africa? Coaching can also be a problem. So, a couple of factors could be responsible for the reason why we slumped to the fourth position at the last AWC. Again, not taking the women’s game seriously could have caused it. Sometimes we can get comfortable and say, ‘oh we are the champions.’ And then we forget about the things that made us champions. Now, the game is taking a different dimension, other teams are coming up, they are working hard, they are training. If we are not doing the same thing, giving our players the level of exposure and training that they need, those teams will catch up with us at the end of the day. Think about it, the United States have been on top since the inception of women football. How have they been able to maintain that position over the years? It’s all about hard work and having the right progamme in place. They are not waiting for the last minute to prepare; once one tournament is over, they are preparing for the next one. They have phases and phases of preparing. And that is the keyword; you have to prepare to get the right results. Gone are those times when they say Nigeria is a superpower and we defeat all other teams in Africa. It’s not happening anymore because teams are catching up, they are working hard, putting different programmes into place and pumping money into their programmes. And if we don’t do the same thing, if we just relax and just fold our hands and say, ‘oh, we have the experience’, we are just going to continue going down. I think those are some of the factors that contribute to it.
We have ex-Falcons stars like you and Florence Omagbemi coaching in the US. Are you hoping to return home to manage any of the women national teams?
I have tried to apply for the Falcons coaching job. Before Kadiri (Ikhana) became the coach (of the Falcons), the position was open. I applied for the job but I didn’t hear anything from them. Right after they lost the last AWC, I applied again and I spoke to a couple of them (Nigerian Football Federation officials). I actually called (Aminu) Maigari, spoke to the NFF Secretary-General, Emeka Inyama, when they came over here for the Nigeria-Mexico game last year in Texas. I went over to Texas to watch that game and I was with the NFF officials but I haven’t heard from them. There is so much more one can do; you can force a horse to the river, but you can’t force it to drink water. You can put in for the job but you are not going to force them to give you the job.
What were the challenges you faced as a pioneer of women football in Nigeria?
It wasn’t easy but it was fun. Not everybody thought women could play football, so, people came out to mock you, laugh at you and show surprise. A lot of people resisted the idea. The Nigerian Football Association came into women football in 1991 but we had been playing before then through the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria. YSFON was the organisation that opened the door for women football because they welcomed the idea; they had competitions and tournaments and we were able to go to these tournaments. They had clubs. We struggled to get sponsors for tournaments, we struggled to get accommodation and transportation to come back home after competitions. But I guess we just loved the game; we just played. We didn’t have a whole lot but we had the love for the game. We had the opportunity to do something that we really liked and I guess that was the driving force that kept us going. We were able to mix with the boys and play. And then also, people who hadn’t heard or seen women play football were thinking it was crazy. It was tough and there was a lot of resistance; there was mockery, but at the end of the day, we were able to show them that the sport had come to stay for the women. In 1991 when FIFA started the Women’s World Cup, the Nigerian Football Association already had a crop of players because YSFON had already laid the foundation. We just went straight to the World Cup. It was tough but we made it.
The first two editions of the World Cup in China and Sweden were nightmarish for the Falcons, as they lost all their games with a bagful of goals…
A whole lot we faced in China and Sweden wasn’t because we didn’t have a good team. It was more about organisation and that has always been our biggest issue when we go out for international tournaments. If we get our house together, we can do a lot of things; actually, when we get our house in order, we always do well.
At the 1999 World Cup, the Flacons reached the quarter-finals, the best ever achievement by the team but you lost your second group game 7-1 to hosts USA despite scoring first…
I laugh whenever I look at that game. We also suffered from lack of experience. I am not putting all the blame on the goalkeeper, Ann Agumanu, but the number of goals she conceded, some of them shouldn’t have gone in. Playing against the US in front of their home crowd also affected us; they were screaming.
How was the team able to stage a monumental return, beating Denmark to reach the last eight?
It was down to hard work and the will to succeed. We wanted to redeem ourselves by qualifying for the quarter-finals. The games were tough but we put up spirited performances to win and qualify as the second best team in our group.
Against Brazil in the quarter-final, the Falcons fell behind 3-0 but staged a comeback, only to lose 4-3 to the South Americans in extra time. How did you feel?
It was a memorable game. Every coach has his plans but when keeper Judith Chime was brought in for Ann Agumanu, things stabilised for us. I feel Chime deserved to be first choice keeper anyway. Prisca Emeafu scored our first goal, I added a second and Nkechi Egbe the third late on in the game. We fought gallantly in extra time but Patience Avre was sent off; we conceded a free-kick, which the Brazilians converted and we lost the match. It was really devastating.
Did your family’s sports background play a role in your becoming a footballer?
My mother had netball experience and my father played football for Nigeria. At a time, he was an assistant to Coach Sebastine Brodericks at Bendel Insurance. He used to bring back home balls from the club. He would tell us to wash the balls, which were very colourful. We will then take the balls to the back of the house and play. My father didn’t want us to play football on the streets of Benin City, where I grew up because of the red sand. We ended up stained with mud from head to toe. We went on to play on the streets but we got whipped when we were caught. There were competitions between streets and we were involved, it was fun.
What are your best and worst moments?
I would tip when we qualified for the first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991 in China as my best moment. We had played Cameroon and Guinea before we met Ghana in the final qualifier. We beat the Black Queens in the first leg in Lagos and we went to Accra for the second leg. That day, I wore a very tight boot and my feet were hot. I would go to the sideline to pour water on my feet just to cool them. It was painful. Then, you were entitled to just one pair of boots and it was the boots you would use all through until they got spoilt. It’s unlike now when players have the luxury of wearing as many boots as they want. The beauty of everything was that we qualified as the first African team to participate in a FIFA Women’s World Cup. My worst moment was at the 2003 Women’s World Cup. It was not that I didn’t perform well but the team put up a very poor performance. For me, it was one of our worst performances at the World Cup.
You represented Nigeria for over 12 years. What was the secret behind your long stay in the Falcons?
I actually played at four World Cups and one Olympic Games and I will remain grateful for my country for giving me the chance to serve. For me, it was hard work and dedication to duty.
What’s your opinion on lesbianism in Nigerian women football?
It’s something that I actually don’t want to talk about because it’s an issue that should be buried by now. I don’t support it but I think it is the personal lives of those who are involved. It’s not my business to interfere in other people’s private affair.
How did you feel scoring at the World Cup?
It was amazing, awesome. I scored thrice at the 1999 World Cup; I scored the Falcons only goal in the 7-1 defeat to the US and then also scored against Denmark and Brazil in the competition. It was a wonderful moment for me.
What did you do with your first big money in football?
Big money? It was not money that could buy a house or a car but it was okay to buy good clothes and look good. I gave some to my parents and I made myself okay with the rest
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