by Desmond Akatugba

In less than 3 months of Sunday Oliseh’s reign as gaffer of Super Eagles, many a ox has been gored, several egoistic players have eaten the humble pie- and now, captain of the team, Vincent Enyeama, has retired.

We don’t know about tomorrow, but as of now, Sunday Oliseh may be one of the most hated public personalities in Nigeria because of his involvement in the retirement of Enyeama.

If it seems a tad far-fetched and overstated that Oliseh is hated at the moment- take a trip to Twitterville and other social media platforms.

In the space of 3 months, Oliseh has gone from hero to villain.

How did he do it?- we take a look.

Sunday Oliseh named Super Eagles coach.

Hailed as the savior of Nigeria football, some even called him the Messiah and Pep Guardiola of Nigeria football- all rolled into one.

His arrival was met with so much enthusiasm from a lot of football loving Nigerians and even those who don’t give two-hoots about football.

 

Drops senior team members in first selection.

Coach Oliseh dropped certain established stars in his first official match for the team against Tanzania.

Players such as Victor Moses, Mikel Obi and Efe Ambrose were dropped on the basis of lack of form or playing-time for their respective clubs.

 

Questionable team selection.

Based on his philosophy that only footballers playing consistently in top leagues both home and abroad would be considered for selection- his recent call up of Alex Iwobi has been suspect, considering the fact that the player only features in pre-season games for Arsenal FC’s senior team and sparingly in the Capital One cup.

Meanwhile there are other players who are not necessarily playing in top leagues but are regulars at their clubs and performing better than some of the players called up in his recent selection.

 

Strips Vincent Enyeama of captaincy.

Perhaps if Sunday Oliseh had stripped Enyeama of his captaincy at any other time (when he didn’t just lose a family member), it would have probably been easier for Nigerians to stomach.

He stripped the most experienced player in the team and the nation’s best goalkeeper of the captaincy of the national team, saying he wants a young skipper to lead the team going forward.
Sends Enyeama home.

After an an ugly altercation with the goalkeeper, Oliseh asked security personnel to have Enyeama thrown out of the team’s training base in Belgium, but the Nigeria Football Federation stepped in and reversed the decision.

Enyeama would later quit the national team after saying the treatment he received from Oliseh was “humiliating”.