Legends of the Game: Back to the Football Field, by Segun Odegbami
Nicknamed Mathematical because of his calculated brilliance on the pitch, Dr. Segun Odegbami (MON), in his hey days, had the full repertoire of football skills and leg-overs, and an uncanny ability to score goals. He led the Green Eagles (now Super Eagles) to their first Africa Cup of Nations title in 1980. In this piece, Odegbami relives his skills on the football field with his son recently
It’s hard to find any cheering news these days with the killings and wars being fought all over the world. And the needless controversy over a single flight of AirPeace when hundreds of other Airpeace flights are ferrying thousands of Nigerians safely to different parts of the world daily without any social media commendation.
Meanwhile, the Creator of the Universe also takes great delight in the little things and small moments in people’s lives, largely unacknowledged and unappreciated.
Earlier today, I took up Tito’s challenge. By the way, my son is now a big ‘man’ of 11. I put on my Green and White kit, dusted by soccer trainers, and returned to the football field for our second one-on-one football challenge in 3 days. For three decades I had left football alone. I don’t play the game anymore. I play tennis. My last serious football match was at the finals of the 1984 African Club Championship in Lagos. My team, Shooting Stars FC, lost that match, and I never played football at that level again.
Of late, Tito’s friends in school have been asking him questions about his Dad. They are all big boys now, and his father’s name rings a bell amongst them. They watch videos of him on the internet, disturb Tito about it, and arouse his own interest not only in football but in his famous father.
To fill Tito’s appetite for information beyond the videos on the internet, he dares me to face him in a physical one-on-one game of football. I take him up on it. Three days ago, we had our first challenge. I struggled and tried to bridge the years of my inaction. I gave a fair account of myself, losing narrowly but gallantly by 11 goals to 8. Tito ‘flew’ all over the place, celebrating.
Earlier today, we had the return leg. This time, I was more prepared and determined to give him a dose of his own medicine.
For the 30 minutes that the game lasted, I was not ashamed to put on display the full array of my forgotten skills and leg-overs. ‘Thunder’ Balogun and ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha would have been proud of me. The only things missing were the dazzling runs and deadly headers.
Okay, the quick reaction also no longer exists, and the knees are now weak and wobbly. The ‘banana’ shots in my right foot have also disappeared. Only my knack for goal-scoring remains intact, and I capitalized.
I leaned often on Tito’s smaller but growing frame, shielded the ball from him, ‘kicked’ him around the ankle a few times to show him who was boss, shoved him to the ground once, and scored 7 ‘great’ goals.
At the end of the game, I raised my fist high, and gave Tito a ‘knuckle bump’ for putting up a good fight. I was happy that, once again, I ‘showed him pepper’. Unfortunately, the ‘bad’ news again today is that despite my gallantry and hard work, he scored 10 times against me. I lost by 10-7.
Anyway, my consolation is that my football is on the way back, slowly but surely. I can’t wait for the next time to show Tito again who is ‘Oga’. I shall deal with that ‘Yeye Boy.’
- Published here with permission from Dr. Olusegun Odegbami (MON)
