Ex-internationals, Garba Lawal, and Friday Ekpo, have lamented the fact that the late Nigerian football legend, Rashidi Yekini, has remained irreplaceable in the Super Eagles, since 1998 when he last played for the national team. The ex-internationals commented as Nigerians on Monday marked the third year of the death of Yekini.
The former Eagles’ midfielders, who spoke to our correspondent, in honour of the memory of Yekini, who died on May 4, 2012, noted with dismay that all Eagles forwards in the past 17 years, have failed to match Yekini’s goal scoring profile.
Lawal said, “Yekini is a legend. There is no doubt about that, everybody knows. He is the best striker we’ve ever had in Nigeria and I don’t think we can, in the near future, get any other striker that will be as prolific as he was. He was one and only. I don’t know about the next generation anyway. He was a legend; a typical goal scorer.
“Yekini was special because of the way he scored goals. He was produced by the same grassroots system that produced me. He left UNTL Kaduna then I came in and then Tijani Babangida. The coach did a great work on us. He raised the profiles of Yekini, I and then Tijani Babangida, Ibrahim Babangida, Haruna Babagida, Yakubu Adamu, Manaseh Ishiaku and a lot of other talented players. I believe that was fantastic.”
On his part, Ekpo said Nigeria has abundant talents who have the potential to do better than Yekini if they are given the right opportunity and exposure. He, however, noted that current strikers in the national team are not comparable to Yekini.
Ekpo said, “I believe the young players in the country should be given the opportunity to shine and try to score goals for Nigeria. We have abundant talents; everybody has his own time. Everybody will not be like Yekini. The current players in the Eagles can only emulate the good things the likes of Yekini did right. But they can never be like Yekini.
“Rashidi was a very committed player. He dedicated time and was hard working and disciplined. He always came out on top when he played. If the younger players work very hard, they can even become better players than he was.”
Yekini, who holds the national goal-scoring record, netted 37 goals for Nigeria in 58 appearances between 1984 and 1998. He was famed for scoring Nigeria’s first-ever goal in a World Cup, in the 3-0 win over Bulgaria at the USA ’94.
He was also the highest goal-scorer and best player at the Tunisia 1994 Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria won.
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