927 total views,  6 views today

By Eche Amos

Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Othman Bala Adam, has, on behalf of the Government and peace-loving people of Nasarawa State remonstrated with the family of late Coach Joseph “Joe” Erico and the football family in Nigeria over the demise of the former Green Eagles of Nigeria goaltender.

Othman Bala Adam said the news about the demise of the goalkeeper came to him and Nasarawa State as a rude shock, portraying it as a sad commentary whose memories will be hard to obliterate from the annals of history.

The Commissioner recalled with nostalgia, fond memories of the late coach who had a stint with NEPA FC while they were in Keffi, Western Nasarawa Zone and other notable professional football clubs, describing him as “an iconic, conspicuous, intimidating and charismatic figure who resonated the ambience of leadership, humility and was a role model to many a people in his hey days and until his death recently.”

Othman Bala added that where most Nigerian football coaches proved to be lacking experience in reading games for tactical changes, Joe Erico, then coach of Julius Berger FC(also known as Adewale Bridge Boys), was a proponent of ‘Jogo Bonito’ as he was popularly called

‘Jogo Bonito Exponent,’ – an aesthetic football philosophy which is based on the tip-tap playing pattern similar to that of Brazilian Samba.

He prayed for the repose of the soul of the late goalkeeper and for God to grant his immediate family and those he left behind the heart to bear the irreparable loss.

Recall that the late goalkeeper began his football career with the Nigerian Police Force, and later moved to NEPA, before joining Nigeria Railways, and Electricity Connectors of Nigeria, respectively, and was part of Coach Tiko Jelisavcic’s Bronze-winning squad at the 1976 Africa Cup of Nations held in Ethiopia.

He would later work as assistant to now late Coaches Amodu Shuaibu and Stephen Keshi in the early 2000s.

“Joe” Erico passed away on Tuesday, 19th January, 2021, in Lagos, following a brief illness at the age of 72 years.