8th October, 2015
Goalkeeper of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Vincent Enyeama has quit international football.
The embattled Enyeama announced his decision through his twitter handle on Thursday.
In the tweet, Enyeama said: “I have fought a good fight for more than 13 years. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith and sang the anthem with passion… From henceforth, I am no more the captain of the Nigerian senior football team, I am no more the goalie of the team, I am out of the team. I am no more available for international duties. I want to say thank you to every Nigerian fan and supporter worldwide. It’s been the most trying period of my life but I know that Nigerians are there for me and God is with me. God bless Nigeria.#ENDOFANERA.”
This is happening after NFF boss Amaju Pinnick issued a statement that the rift between Enyeama and Super Eagles Coach, Sunday Oliseh, over who captains the team had been amicably resolved.
Enyeama had taken to Instagram to condemn the row with Oliseh, a situation that had led to his removal as the captain of the team.
Enyeama arrived at the Nigeria camp in Belgium on Tuesday, a day past Monday’s deadline, after attending his mother’s funeral last weekend in his home town.
A surprised Enyeama was told by Coach Oliseh that a new captain, Ahmed Musa of CSKA Moscow of Russia, had been appointed to replace him.
Report said that this degenerated into a row that prompted the coach to send the keeper out of the camp if not for the intervention of President of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Amaju Pinnick.
In his first public reaction to the face-off, Enyeama posted on his Instagram handle ‘vinny2908’ Wednesday afternoon, recounting how badly he felt with the treatment he received from Oliseh despite the fact that the coach knew why he came late to the Belgium camp.
“After 13 years of national service, having this smile on my face and this passion in my heart through the billows, the waves of the ocean, the tears of defeat and the sound of rejoicing from victory chants, now the thought of being stripped naked and security agents throwing me out break me completely. I will take anything but not insult to my dead mother,” 101 capped Enyeama emotionally wrote on the Instagram.
Meanwhile, a report on ESPN says the goalkeeper is considering taking a bow from Nigeria’s senior national team.
“I was surprised,” Enyeama told ESPN FC. “So I stood up to explain my position and ask for an explanation, but the coach asked me to sit down.
“I insisted on speaking because I felt that with the years of dedicated service I have given to the country I deserve at least the respect of giving my own side. But he told me that either the whole team would leave the room for me, or I would have to leave the room for the whole team,” Enyeama said.
“There have been a lot of incidents these last few months,” he said. “I don’t need it; the team do not need it, so maybe the best thing might be to step aside in the interest of the country so that the team can focus on football instead of distractions.”
But in what appears to be official comments about Tuesday night’s incident was a press statement from the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, which quoted President Amaju Pinnick Wednesday that all is well in Eagles’ camp.
The statement says NFF President Amaju Pinnick hailed the spirit in the camp of the Super Eagles in Belgium, as Nigeria’s senior boys banished memories of a brief misunderstanding that reared its head on Tuesday night.
“I’m happy there is absolute peace in the camp and the players and coaches are thinking of nothing other than the two matches against DR Congo and Cameroon.
“Whatever misunderstanding that happened on Tuesday night has been peacefully resolved and everyone’s forgotten about it. Anywhere you have a group of people there is propensity for misunderstanding now and again. The key thing is the immediacy of resolution and the maturity to forgive and forget.”
The statement further says that Head Coach Sunday Oliseh assured there were no longer issues and that the three–time African champions were focused on Thursday’s high–profile friendly against the Leopards of the Democratic Republic of Congo.