Life After Eagles Retirement: Misfiring Emenike Heavily Booed

Life after retiring from international football has not been all rosy for Emmanuel Emenike as he was heavily jeered in a recent game while on duty for his club Al Ain.

Emenike was substituted in the second half when his team played Al Jazira, and a section of Al Ain fans jeered him while he walked off the pitch, BBC Sports reports.

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Although his club won the game 2-0, fans of the defending champions were left fuming over Emenike’s inability to find the back of the net.

However, Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic was quick to come to the defence of his striker after the game.

Emmanuel Emenike on Al Ain’s jersey

Dalic said: “I cannot be happy with the reaction of some people. We won, we played fantastic and some people criticised Emenike.

“Please, our fans, be patient, give time, give everyone a chance, to me, to my team, to Emenike. It’s not easy, but we didn’t deserve this reaction, especially after the Jazira game. It was very bad.

“I understand our fans always want a fantastic performance, always five goals. It’s not possible. Please, support our team and our players will play better. In the last game, in front of 15,000 people, my players were fantastic. I expect it to always be like this and they support our team.
“The last game we won Emenike was part of our victory. For me, he played very well, did a great job, but only missed scoring a goal. Maybe it was Emenike’s best performance for me. I know everyone expects more goals, expects him to be a replacement for Asamoah Gyan. As I told you on his first day, it’s not easy to replace Gyan.

“If somebody needs criticism, criticise me, not my players. Because I put him in the team, I put him on the pitch, I will take everything on my back. But give support to my players.”

Emenike joined Al Ain in July as a replacement for Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan, who scored 128 goals, won three domestic league titles and was top scorer in the Arabian Gulf League three times in a four-year spell.

He has scored four goals for his team so far in the campaign.
Emenike took to his Instagram page on Monday night, October 19, to announce his withdrawal from the senior national team.

His decision to quit international football came weeks after Vincent Enyeama also called it quits with the national team after the shot-stopper fell out with coach Sunday Oliseh at the team’s camp in Belgium.