Westerhof Mooted Dropping Emenalo to Accommodate Me, Says Babangida

Former Ajax Amsterdam forward Tijani Babangida has revealed details about the selection controversy surrounding Nigeria's squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. According to Babangida, the team's manager, Clemens Westerhof, was considering dropping defender Michael Emenalo to make room for him. However, unnamed officials from the Nigeria Football Federation rejected the proposal.

At that time, Finidi George and Victor Ikpeba were ahead of Babangida in Westerhof's pecking order for the right wing position. In the end, Nigeria's decision to include Emenalo in the World Cup squad turned out to be a wise choice. Emenalo played a crucial role in covering for the injured left-back Benedict Iroha during Nigeria's 3-0 victory over Bulgaria.

Babangida, despite not being officially registered for the tournament, remained with the squad and trained alongside his teammates throughout the competition. He shared that Westerhof had no choice but to drop Emenalo, but Babangida was ultimately included in the squad. Babangida trained and lived with his teammates throughout the tournament.

He mentioned that Westerhof had to drop Victor Ikpeba, but Babangida was not registered due to his attacking role. Babangida trained with the team, slept with them, and did everything together, except playing on the field. Four years later, Babangida featured prominently at the 1998 World Cup in France, playing in all four matches and scoring against Denmark in the round of 16.