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| Osaze Odemwingie |
Osaze Odemwingie has said he regrets his sensational Twitter comments, which were made because coach Stephen Keshi was not fair to him.
West Bromwich Albion striker Odemwingie had in the wake of the release of the Nigeria squad list for the 2013 AFCON taken to his Twitter account and made some disparaging comments against Keshi as well as the entire team.
He was also reported to have called the chairman of the NFF technical Committee, Chris Green, names over his exclusion from the AFCON squad.
However, the England-based forward said his mistakes were made in a fit of anger after he had made it known to his coach and colleagues that he was set to travel for the Nations Cup in South Africa.
In a no-holds-bar interview, the WBA star surprisingly and truthfully admitted making some of the comments credited to him, but was also quick to make some clarifications on calling Green names, saying what he attacked was the decision to exclude him.
He described Green as a good man and one of the few on the NFF board alongside the president, Aminu Maigari, who he knows personally, and would not want to offend, though his anger has portrayed him to be at “war with everybody”.
“I remember it was Green who settled my case with Siasia then, but I was too angry when he called me over this matter, and was impatient to listen to him,” he now said.
“My comment was not directed at him personally, but to those who made the decision, but I think I over reacted then.”
On his face-off with Keshi, the former Lokomotiv Moscow forward revealed, “I called the coach two or three times within that period, maybe two or three days before the list was made public and told him of my commitment to be part of the Nations Cup, and have told my (club) coach I will be going to the Nations Cup.
“I told the coach I was ready to report to camp by January 3, even before other professionals start reporting to camp, if I were in his programme for the Nations Cup, and even told him to feel free to drop me, if I were not in his programme.
“I felt betrayed after that seeming heart-to-heart discussions with the coach few days to the release of the team list and he could not hint me I was not in his plan for the Nations Cup.
“For me, it was not professional and I considered it a betrayal and lost my cool given all the arrangements I had made towards the Nations Cup.”
Odemwingie also revealed that he felt pained and miffed by “some comments on why I was dropped ranging from being arrogant to asking for the captain’s band, and I concluded the federation wanted to freeze me out of the national team after 10 years of serving the country with commitment and dedication.”
“I don’t mind being asked to give the younger ones a chance, even though I still have five years to offer at the international level, but I only think it would be proper to be honourably pulled out of the national team and not ‘disgraced’ out of the team after years of dedicated service to Nigeria,” he argued.
The WBA star argued that though his international career is over in the light of these controversies, which he noted ”were unfortunate and regrettable, but I still believe there is need to correct some wrong impressions out there that I am always fighting with every coach, but what people don’t know is that my issues with all the coaches from Samson Siasia to Lars Lagerback and now Keshi had to do with purely football matters, not administrative or asking for more money for players”.
“My case with coach Siasia dates back to the 2008 Olympics and had to do with insufficient jerseys and all that. With Lagerback it had to do with how I was treated and I voiced it to him personally at the World Cup, and now being treated unfairly.
“Imagine talking with someone two, three times over an issue and few days later you begin to hear a different story from the person, who was in a position to tell you point blank,’you are not in my plan for this’.
Odemwingie added: “I am human and open to errors by the way I may have taken the issue, and regret the whole controversy, and want to put all this behind me now and focus on my club career, while wishing the team the best of luck as a Nigerian.”
(MTN Football)
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