With the score still locked at 0-0 and the Nigerians needing to win, KickOffNigeria.com gathers that the usually soft-spoken Portsmouth striker was like a beast unleashed in the dressing room, and barely waited for coach Berti Vogts to finish his own general dressing down before laying into his teammates.
Kanu, however, played down the incident, stating that it was just his way of motivating the players
“We were wasting corner-kicks, throw-ins and free-kicks, and in a game like this when every little thing counts, it is the simple basic things that make the difference. But they were taking it for granted and I had to tell them that,” Kanu told KickOffNigeria.com after the game.
“Other people also spoke their mind about what was happening on the pitch. One thing about this team is that we are honest with each other. Nobody carries anything in his mind that he cannot tell the other person, so that we can deal with it and move on.”
It was not only in the dressing room that Kanu showed his other side. On the ride from the hotel to the stadium, morale was down and players were singing with little enthusiasm, until the skipper took action and told everyone to put their hearts into the singing and clapping.