It’s Friday – a day traditionally seen as the happiest day of the week. For Enyimba, not just the day but this week has been a very happy one. After overcoming Étoile Filante de Ouagadougou in the CAF Confederation Cup playoff to reach the group stage last weekend and then edging past Lobi Stars 2-1 on Wednesday in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Enyimba now have what I consider their first big test in the league this season when they face Rivers United this Sunday.
I remember few years ago when I worked with a senior colleague, Iwedi Ojinmah (now late), he would tag this kind of contest, ‘a monster game.’ Indeed it is a monster game in the NPFL this weekend though many would also be talking about the Remo Stars versus Rangers International clash. The good about this game is that it pits Enyimba head coach, Yemi Olanrewaju, popularly known as Yema, against his former boss and ex-Super Eagles winger Finidi George now head coach at Rivers United. It will be the first time both men will meet in a competitive game. The only time they met was earlier this September in a pre-season game which Enyimba lost 0-1. I am sure Yema and his men must have learnt a thing or two from that match that will be handy ahead of this ‘monster game.’
Certainly the master versus apprentice face-off has been unlocked in the NPFL. We have seen same unfold in the English Premier League between Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta that is growing into a big rivalry between Manchester City and Arsenal. There’s Jose Mourinho versus Louis van Gaal who encouraged him to go into football coaching despite starting out as a translator at Barcelona at the time. I remember the best master-apprentice matchup in Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane. So many trophies among the two and then Zidane became Real Madrid manager and came face-to-face with Don Carlo with Bayern after earlier serving as his assistant. I will still stick to recent mentor-pupil coaching matchups by mentioning Jurgen Klopp and David Wagner who worked at Borussia Dortmund as first-team and B team coaches respectively. The two would later meet as Liverpool and Norwich City managers. And who would forget the Jose Mourinho versus Andre Villas-Boas meeting of Chelsea versus Tottenham Hotspur. Villas-Boas had worked as assistant to Mourinho at FC Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan. Of course there is a long list of master versus apprentice matchups in football.
Now the NPFL is throwing up its own story of master versus apprentice matchups with Finidi and Yema about to serve something to lap on. For Yema, the win over Lobi Stars in midweek is now consigned to the past and he knows he has a big task for the trip to Port Harcourt. “We’re putting this game (against Lobi Stars) behind us and focusing on Rivers United. I’m very excited,” said Yema.
Of course, the Enyimba coach’s excitement stems from going head-to-head with his former boss. Yema describes Finidi in glowing terms and as a man who gave him lots of opportunity to have an input in the Enyimba squad when he was still his assistant. Little wonder, Yema has easily taken to his Enyimba head coach role like it was made for him. Oh need I say, Finidi also encouraged Yema to chase his UEFA B badge in Scotland recently.
“Finidi is a big inspiration in my (coaching) career,” began with his description of his former boss. “There are things I learned from him and also he told me he learned some things from me. He is a very humble person and he always listens to what suggestions I have to make concerning the team.He was one of those who really encouraged me to go do my UEFA B coaching licence.”
So when this game starts around 3pm this Sunday, the excitement of facing his former boss would have dissipated and for Yema and his Enyimba team it will be time for business as he would look to get one over another set of Nigeria’s Golden Generation of 1994 having earlier seen off Emmanuel Amuneke now managing Heartland earlier in September.
