‘How I went from the Bull to a mouse’ – Super Eagles legend Amokachi shares details of injury that ended his career & how he lost everything

Super Eagles legend Daniel Amokachi, in an interview, shared intimate details of the injury that triggered his decline and the struggles that followed.

Nicknamed the Bull for his sheer power and speed during his playing days, Amokachi was adored by fans as much as he was dreaded by opponents.

However, just before the 1998 World Cup in France, the burly forward suffered a knee injury which he never fully recovered from as a player. It was a tough period for Amokachi, who – around the same time – lost a loved one in General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s former Head of State.

“I have a good relationship with the Abacha family. I am like a son because of the military background that we have,” the 49-year-old former Everton striker said in an interview with ATHLST.

“About three days before the first game we lost the General [Abacha], two days later I got injured. In training, I got a tackle and my knee knocked. And that was the beginning of everything for me.

“I just walked quietly to the locker room, I was in the toilet crying like a baby til they finished warm up and they came in.

“They were expecting that everything would be okay but after one season, I wasn’t feeling too well. I went under the knife again. I went to Germany – and what they did wasn’t supposed to be what they should have done. [But] that’s fate, that’s how it’s been written and then it happened.

Amokachi said that though he returned to action after surgery and rehabilitation he wasn’t the same again. The strength and speed that had been on full display, notably, at the African Nations Cup [which Nigeria won] and the World Cup in 1994 as well as the Olympic Games in 1996 had began to diminish.

He would endure peripatetic spells in Germany, France, and the UAE without much success before calling it quits at the prime age of 28.

“You see players that get injured, they have surgery and rehab and they start playing again, and that was what was in my head,” the Olympic Gold medalist continued.

“I started rehab, started training, playing, but it wasn’t the Bull. I felt I was, but people that were watching me knew it wasn’t me – because my style of play is about power, speed and a bit of skill. If that speed is not there, if that strength is not there then it’s a mouse not the Bull, and I felt it.

“A lot of my friends, a lot of people said a lot of people would have gone mad. Me doing rehab and thinking I’ll never play football again and all that stuff. I think it’s just the special grace.

“We go through phases. I went through bankruptcy – I don’t feel ashamed to say it. We go through experiences. Do I have millions in my account today? No, because I don’t need it. Because you wake up one day and you’re just history.”