|
Arugo Monkey!
FA Cup hero
By BEN MEMULETIWON
Wednesday,
November 1, 2006
 |
Ejiogu
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
| |
He has every quality to be Nigeria’s No.1 goalkeeper,
but for his high level record of indiscipline. He could even
make Vincent Enyeama to grow goose pimples and have sleepless
nights, but he bungled every opportunity, which had come his
way.
But when all hope was seemingly lost for the Dolphins Football
Club in Sunday’s Coca-Cola/FA Cup final in Abeokuta,
Chijioke Ejiogu rose like the Trojan. He shone like a million
stars, as he manned the post like Goliath, a man-mountain,
who instilled fears in the minds of the Insurance FC of Benin
players, who played two of their penalties straight into the
goalkeeper’s hands to give the 61st edition of the championship
to the Rivers State boys.
Ejiogu, popularly called Arugo Monkey, because of his agility
in the post, was spotted by the former Super Eagles’
Coach, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, and was in the team that
was to play a friendly match against Paraguay in London shortly
before the Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002. But the goalkeeper
went into the thin air in London, as the coach had to drop
him from the squad. Since then, every national team coach
had refused to look his way, not because he’s not good
enough to give Vincent Enyeama a good fight, but simply because
of his indecent behaviour.
But at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta, on Sunday, the guy
that was picked under one of the bridges in Onitsha, proved
that any Eagles’ coach that ignores him does so at his
peril. For a young man that stunned soccer lovers in the same
championship with Arugo Football Club a few years ago, this
year’s final was an opportunity he had been waiting
for.
“I believe that my time will still come to keep for
the Super Eagles,” Ejiogu said. “I’ve proved
today, that I really deserve a place in the Eagles. I’ve
been there before and that’s where I really belong.”
Speaking on his spectacular saves during the regulation time
and the penalty shootout, he said the strikers were confused
because of his agility to dive at full length.
“Insurance players were scared of me because they know
I would stop all their shots. That’s why they always
wanted to walk the ball into my 18-yard box. I played against
them in the League, so, they know what I can do.
“Stopping the two penalties was not a surprise. I would
have stopped the first two, but the ground was slippery because
of the rain. So, when I stopped the third, I knew I was going
to stop the next.
“I thank God for this feat. This makes it my second
FA Cup victory with Dolphins in the last three years. We were
in the final of the CAF Confederation Cup two years ago, but
lost to FAR of Morocco. We shall aspire to win the continental
Cup in this second attempt.”
Rivers State Commissioner for Sports, Allwell Onyesoh, who
represented his governor, was full of praises for the boys
for making the dream of their governor a reality.
“We knew it would be a tough match, but we were confident
that we would lift the Cup at the end of the day,” Onyesoh
said.
“This victory is a confirmation that Dolphins are one
of the best teams in Nigeria. We shall work on the weak areas
of the team before the start of the Confederation Cup. This
time, we are going for the Cup and nothing less.”
The atmosphere at the MKO Abiola Stadium was tensed up before
the match, as it became a political rallying ground for supporters
from Port Harcourt to tell the world that their governor is
gunning for the Aso Rock’s hot seat. They came in a
uniformed T-shirts with the inscription ‘Odili for President
in 2007’.
Dolphins players also came into the pitch with the campaign
T-shirts during their 20-minutes warm up before the match.
The foundation of the stadium almost crumbled as supporters
of both teams sang and drummed with the trumpets blaring like
the thunder. And an old spectator beside the reporter simply
snapped: “This is how it used to be in the 70’s
and 80’s. The glamour is really back. This is how it
was during Shootin and Rangers time, during Super Stores and
Leventis days, during Abiola Babes and Iwuanyanwu era. I’m
happy for the FA Cup this year,” he said.
When Dolphin’s Ibrahim Ajani struck in the 39th minute
from a run-off play after several minutes of dominance by
Insurance, another spectator who apparently was a Dolphins’
sympathiser said: “That goal has broken their calabash
of juju. No juju man can stand the power of the Almighty God.”
In all, the epic final lived up to the people’s expectations,
even with the torrential pour from heaven.
Insurance was super, but they met their match in Dolphins,
who played a more purposeful game.
|
