IKPO IGBINOBA/ Lagos
Twenty two years after leading Nigeria to her first ever Olympic Games gold in football, Johannes Bonfrere has revealed that a “big man” seized his hard earned gold medal in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.
The coach who is in Nigeria to receive a house gift from the federal government for being part of the all -conquering Super Eagles (he was assistant coach to Clemens Westerhof) team to the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia in 1994 was answering questions on a Sports Radio Brila 88.9 FM programme monitored in Lagos on Friday.
It would be recalled that after the historic feat in Atlanta in 1996,in which the Dream Team won the Olympic soccer gold, emerging the first African team to do so, Bonfrere left in rather mysterious circumstances.
Instead of returning with the team, Bonfrere left the Games venue in the United States for his hometown, Maastricht in the Netherlands.
Several speculations were then peddled for his unceremonious departure and abandonment of the victorious Dream Team.
Bonfrere laid all the speculations to rest on Friday while responding to a question by a caller in the phone-in programme.
According to him “I didn’t come to Nigeria with the team after the Atlanta Olympics because somebody took my gold medal.
He stressed ” A big man took my gold medal. And up till now, my Atlanta Olympics gold medal is still with the big man”.
Bonfrere’s revelation immediately triggered a wave of anger among listeners who called into the programme and wanted the Dutchman to name the alleged big man.
But he refused bluntly to name the big man who must have been a top government official from the Sports Ministry.
Chief Jim Nwobodo was the Sports Minister in 1996 while maximum leader, Gen Sani Abacha was head of state.
With his feat, Bonfrere also had several teams scrambling for his services, so he really had no need to keep the Nigerian job.
He would however return to Nigeria years later to guide the Super Eagles to a silver in the Africa Cup of Nations jointly hosted by Nigeria and Ghana in the year 2000.
Another question which the Dutchman refused to answer was what went wrong between him and his compatriot and former boss Westerhof, the man who brought him to Nigeria as an assistant.
The Westerhof question was like touching a raw nerve of the coach.
Bonfrere, who hitherto was in ebullient spirit in the radio studio which had a carnival atmosphere suddenly became combative.
Though he admitted falling out with Westerhof after the 1994 World Cup played in the United States, Bonfrere refused to divulge the details.
When pressed to give the details of their quarrel, he replied rather curtly, “I won’t like to talk about what happened between us.”
However, he maintained that he was never going to reconcile with Westerhof.
Bonfrere couldn’t conceal his anger when the chief executive of Brila FM, Dr. Larry Izamoje tried to plead with him to forget and forgive.
“I will never settle with Westerhof again. We will never be friends again” he fumed.
When reminded that he was Westerhof’s compatriot, he hit back “Are you not a Nigerian? Are you saying you don’t have some enemies who are Nigerians”?
Bonfrere,who will be 72 years in a few weeks time said the Super Eagles would make an impact in the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 if they prevail against their first opponent Croatia.
According to him “In a big tournament like the World Cup, the first match is very important. If Nigeria can win the first game, which is against Croatia, then they can go far”.
On the absence of his country, the Netherlands from the tournament, Bonfrere blamed the coach, Luis Van Gaal
He noted that the Van Gaal introduced a strange formation which cost one of the top teams in Europe a place in the football summit.
But Bonfrere was quick to add that nobody dared blame Van Gaal back home in the Netherlands.
He revealed “In the Netherlands, nobody can blame Van Gaal because he is very popular. It is my opinion that he cost us the World Cup ticket”.
Bonfrere was full of gratitude to the Nigerian government for redeeming the promise of three-bedroom flat each made to players and officials of the Super Eagles by the Abacha junta for winning the Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Tunisia in 1994.
The coach was inducted into the Brila FM Sports Assembly by Dr. Izamoje.