Former Super Eagles captain Austin Okocha has revealed that he gave Sunday Oliseh painkillers to play at the 2000 African Cup of Nations final against Cameroon in Lagos.
TheNewsGuru recalls that Oliseh was almost required to pull out of the final after provoking a hamstring injury in their 2-0 win over South Africa in the semi-final.
The defensive midfielder had an enormous impact in the quarter-final win over Senegal, coming off the bench to bag an assist as the Eagles came from a goal down to beat the Teranga Lions 2-1.
Narrating the final defeat to Cameroon on penalties, after full and extra time ended 2-2, Okocha in a chat with Punch said: “We were having a good tournament heading into the final but Sunday (Oliseh) was not fully fit to play.
“We needed him in the team for the final and also as the captain of the team, so I offered him painkillers to play.
“I gave him the painkillers because playing with him gave me and the forwards in the team more confidence to attack. It’s unfortunate that we lost the final the way we did in front of our home fans.”
The midfielder (Oliseh) also said he was far from being fully fit for final.
“Those are some of the sacrifices we made for our country. I wasn’t fully fit to play but I got assurance that some painkillers will relieve me for the duration of the final. It’s just sad that we lost the game.”
Okocha made his official debut for Nigeria in their 2–1 1994 FIFA World Cup Qualifier away loss against Ivory Coast in May 1993. It was not until his second cap and home debut that he became a favourite with the Nigerian supporters. With Nigeria trailing 1–0 against Algeria, in a match they needed to win, he scored from a direct free kick to equalise, before helping the team to a 4–1 win, eventually securing qualification to their first World Cup. In 1994, he was a member of both the victorious 1994 African Cup of Nations squad. And the World Cup squad who made it to the second round before they lost in a dramatic match against eventual runners-up Italy.