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NIGERIA’S SPORTS MINISTER, SUNDAY DARE MOURNS ERICO

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Nigeria’s sports minister, Sunday Dare has described as monumental loss, the death of former Green Eagles goalkeeper and national coach, Joseph Erico.

A statement by the Minister’s  Media  Office states: “Erico dead, this is so unfortunate and  sad. This is one death too many, a great loss to the entire family and the sporting fraternity.

“He was a great goalkeeper who stood out among his peers.  He also made his mark  as an assistant coach to the Super Eagles. My deepest condolences to the family, friends and the football family.  May God bless his soul and comfort his family.” the statement concluded.

Erico made his mark as a player with ECN which metamorphosed into NEPA Football Club.  

He was a member of the Green Eagles Nations Cup bronze winning team in Ethiopia. He later coached Julius Berger Football Club of Lagos as well as NEPA FC.

He was an assistant to the late Amodu Shuaibu at the Mali 2002 Nations Cup. He alongside the late Amodu and Stephen Keshi qualified the Super Eagles for the 2002 World Cup, but were sacked afterwards.

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Erico was nicknamed the Jogo Bonito exponent because of his flair for tip tap football reminiscent  of the Brazilian  Samba style. He was aged 72.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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