Former Nigerian defender, Taribo West has revealed the reason why the Super Eagles lost their Round of 16 clash against Denmark in the France 1998 World Cup.
The 46 year old former Inter Milan and AC Milan defender revealed that some of his team-mates snuck women into their camp before their game against Denmark, and says that was to blame for their lacklustre display.
Nigeria started the competition very well after beating Spain in their first match and topped the group with six points. Consequently, the African giants were clear favourites in their second round match.
The Super Eagles were paired against Denmark for the knock-out tie but they failed to continue their astonishing run as their dismal performance saw them lose 4-1.
After becoming one of the tournaments main talking points, West said players enjoyed the sudden attention they started to receive.
The former Super Eagles strong man, well known for his outlandish haircuts, said his team-mates were too complacent for the game and had made themselves fatigued the night before.
‘I read reports about Eagles visiting nightclubs and driving limousines during the World Cup in France, honestly, I don’t know about that,’ Taribo told the Punch.
‘But what I know is that some players sneaked women into camp, I saw that.
‘The women were Africans who came to watch the tournament and fell in love with our team, because of the way we played in the group stage. So, it was easy for these players to woo them to their rooms.
‘That is why on match day, you could see a lot of the players didn’t have the strength to curtail the Danish players.
‘They were tired after overworking themselves the night before with the women. I was yelling at them on the pitch, I was very angry with them. They did all these because they thought we were going to beat Denmark,’ West added.
