FIFA
Drops Eagles Captain
Daily Champion (Lagos)
June 25, 2002
Posted to the web June 25, 2002
IT appears world soccer governing body, FIFA, was unimpressed with the
brilliant performance of Super Eagles captain, Austin Okocha, at the 2002
World Cup, as he was not included in the list of 33 players short listed
yesterday for its All-Star Team. The Bolton Wanderers of England new sign-on
won the man-of-the match award in the game between Nigeria and England.
Only two players from Africa, El-Hadj Diouf and Pape Malick Diop both
Senegalese, were included in the list from which the final squad is
scheduled to be announced by football legend Pele, in the Japanese city of
Yokohama on June 28. Explaining the method of selection, FIFA said players
who were eliminated with their teams in the first round, were not taken into
consideration in the job to assemble players whose extra-ordinary skills
during the finals have made them outstanding personalities.
FIFA added that its Technical Study Group for the 2002 World Cup, comprising
10 coaches headed by respected coach Jozef Venglos, who handled
Czechoslovakia at the Italia '90 finals, reserves the right to call-up new
players in the final list, if found to be extra-ordinary in performance.
Brazil lead the pack with six players, followed by co-hosts South Korea, who
supplied four stars.
Spain, England and Turkey, had three players named, while Sweden and USA
provided two each. Also, featuring two players each are World Cup co-host
Japan. Surprisingly, only one player was selected from the star-studded
Italian side, followed by Belgium and Denmark, who also supplied a man each.
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