Victor Okechukwu Agali is a former Super Eagles player who scored important goals for the national team during his playing days. Presently, he is the official scout of the national team which involves monitoring Nigerian players all over the World and making recommendations to the national team coach. In this interview with our correspondent, Ifeanyi Eduzor,he spoke on his experiences as a player, scouting for the national team, problems of Nigerian football and the way forward.
As a person who played the game at the highest level, how was it like growing up?
My growing up was not an easy thing because my parents were not rich. I grew up like any other child playing football bare footed on sandy pitches and on any available space with my mates. During that time, we’re not thinking of ending up as professional footballers but only doing it for the fun of it and to exhibit our talents. I was discovered early in my primary school and I went ahead to play for my school team and continued to the secondary school. After leaving school, I joined some academies and later Princess Jegede Football Academy from there I went on to play for NITEL of Lagos and eventually played for some of the biggest clubs in Europe, such as Olympic Marseille, Toulon of France, Hansa Rostock of Germany, Schalke 04, and Skoda Xanith as well as Anorthosis Famagusta all of Greece.
How would you describe your experience in the national team?
The experience was awesome and the relationship with my senior colleagues was very good. I was lucky to have played with them because we had good relationship and lived like a family when on national assignment. Our goal then was to win every match and make Nigerians happy and we never allowed our personal differences or interest to affect our performance on the field of play. The caliber of players in the team then was great. We had players like Finidi George, Sunday Oliseh, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo and a host of other great players and we related very well and we have continued that relationship even after retiring from playing active football.
Among all these great players you mentioned, who among them did you relate closely with while in the national team?
Like I said earlier, we related very well and that was why we we’re able to achieve good results during our time. All the players have special characters. Finidi was a complete gentle man who can never hurt a fly, Kanu hardly talk but is ready to offer good advice. Jay Jay was also on the quiet side while Oliseh as the captain of the team is always there to spot your errors and push you to do more and be on top of your game. So, what I’m saying is that we had a cordial relationship collectively and I related with all my team mates equally.
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Your career ended abruptly when Nigerians were expecting more from you. Was it out of victimisation or falling out of favour with the team handlers?
I didn’t quit the national team because of victimisation or loss of form. Although at times, you might face one form of victimisation or another from senior colleagues in the course of doing your job but in my own case, injury affected me. When I got injured, I decided to concentrate on club football and even at that, I was always going for rehabilitation after every match and at a stage, I decided to call it quits with football and concentrate on other things, which is what I’m doing presently.
Many football fans have the erroneous believe that voodoo play a role in African football. Did you at any time experience such during your playing days?
It’s only when I watch home videos that I see voodoo being practised. As a Christian, I don’t believe in voodoo or fetish things. It does not exist in football. The game of football is all about having talent and being able to develop it to get to stardom. My advice is that those holding such belief should desist from it because it does not exist. If voodoo exists in football, many unknown teams and countries without good football culture and foundation would have been winning major trophies at both local and international tournaments.
As the official scout of the Super Eagles, can you tell us some of the challenges you encounter in recommending players to the national team?
I took up the job because of my passion and experience as a footballer as well as to contribute my quota to the rebuilding process of the national team being embarked on by Coach Gernot Rohr.
Having said this, I want to say that scouting involves a lot of things and very challenging. A team like Bayern Munich have about 1000 scouts just as Schalke 04 have many scouts . They have these number of scouts because a coach cannot do it alone and apart from monitoring a player, you also follow up with his development and progress. I will say it has been fun but the only snag is that I‘m not been paid by NFF but the Coach. When I went to Egypt for the Nations Cup, I paid for my flight ticket, hotel accommodation and also took care of my feeding which is not supposed to be so but by and large, it has been fun since I took the job.
Looking at the last Nations Cup, how would you rate the performance of the Super Eagles?
I will give them pass mark because they did exceptionally well and deserve commendation. It’ s not easy going to a competition of 24 teams and emerging as the third best team.You should also realise that African football have come of age and there are no more minnows in the continent. I believe that the future of the Super Eagles is bright because we now have some young and talented players who will explode by the next Nations Cup.
But what do you think went wrong in our semi- final match against the Desert Foxes of Algeria?
The truth is that the Algerians were better in all departments of the game. Another factor was that we started the game slowly. It must be noted that starting matches slowly is not peculiar to this team because Nigeria has been known as slow starters. I am happy that we managed to come back in the second half of the match which led to the equalizer but the major problem we had in that game was our inability to manage the last 10 minutes . The Algerians did that very well especially in the last five minutes which led to the free kick and the resultant goal. So, I give kudos to the team for not conceding too many goals in that match.
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Are you in support of NFF not renewing the contract of Gernot Rohr?
I don’t want to go into that because the decision to hire or fire a coach rests with the football house. However, I believe Rohr has done a good job and deserves to be retrained. We should not forget the transformation and stability he brought to the team before passing judgment on him and above all, he met the target given to him by the NFF; which was to qualify the country for the last World Cup and get to the semi- final of the Africa Nations Cup. His future depends on what Nigerians and the NFF want but in my own candid opinion, he should be given more time to complete his work.
How would you describe the goal keeping problem of the national team. Are you satisfied with what you saw at the Nations Cup?
The goalkeeping problem is a generational thing. In any team, there are times when a generation of players will go and those coming after them will have problems in some departments of the team. This is not limited to Nigeria alone because Egypt shortly after the Arab spring had a similar problem and they are just trying to rebuild their national team. The same thing is applicable to Cameroon and Cote d’ Ivoire but I’ m sure very soon, we will overcome the goalkeeping problem of the national team.
Looking at Nigerian League, what do you think should be done to make it better?
The truth of the matter is that our league managers are adjusting to the economic situation of the country and a situation where abridged league is organised and some amateur teams play five matches in a league season is not good for the development of the game. The implication of this is that the coach cannot have a proper assessment of his players and even when friendly matches are organised, most players don’t take it serious. So, there is need for the league managers to look inwards and put logistics on ground to make the league more attractive and competitive as that is the only way sponsors can come in and our teams can also do well in CAF organised club championships.
There is also need to develop our grassroots football. I’ m not blaming the coaches or the clubs but government for not doing enough in this area. Government should provide affordable facilities for all sports and not only football because how can one explain that a club will spend about N200,000 to play four matches in a month because playing pitches and transportation is very expensive.
The truth of the matter is that a player needs about 34 games in a year to be in top firm but here it’s difficult for them to play 20 games. There is also need for us to emulate European countries who organizes U -15, U-18 and U -20 leagues and that is why they have good grassroots developmental programme which has helped a lot in improving their football.
What have you been doing since retirement from active football?
I have been busy all these years and giving back to the young ones what I learnt on the field of play. Right now, I have a football academy known as Victor Agali Football Academy for U-17 players and we are based in Badagry. It has not been easy running the academy but God has been sustaining us. We are also into partnership with AS Racing Club of Lagos and one of my players is presently in Turkey.
Do you have any regret playing football and what is your advice to upcoming players?
I don’t have any regret playing football because it was the sport that brought me to limelight and made me transverse the whole of Europe, represented Nigeria in many international competitions and the Olympics and as such, I must be grateful to God Almighty for giving me the talent to be a footballer.
Having said this, my advice to young players is that they must be focused, listen to their coaches and take their training serious. They should think less of going abroad because if they are good and coupled with some element of luck the opportunity would definitely come.