'Brentford Coach Drove Me To The Airport' - Sam Sodje On First Nigeria Call-Up

Former Reading and Brentford central defender Sam Sodje has revealed that his then coach at The Bees, Martin Allen drove him to the airport when he received his maiden Super Eagles call-up for a friendly against Romania in November 2005.

Born in London but raised in Warri, Delta State,  Sodje is of the opinion that his debut could have come earlier because he was playing well for his clubs.

His sibling, Efe Sodje was a member of the Super Eagles squad to the 2002 World Cup, where he started against Argentina and England, and won silver with the national team at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations.

"I am not trying to be cocky but at that time it was like I should be playing. After football you realize what you have done and the way people approach you and take you now," Sodje said in an Instagram conversation with Team Nigeria UK monitored by allnigeriasoccer.com.

"At that time it was normal to me. I was at Brentford when I first got the call-up to play for Nigeria against Romania. Martin Allen was my manager, he drove me to the airport and I flew to Romania. It was a friendly game.

"The organisation was not the best, just playing for Nigeria because my brother played and I am a big fan of my brother, I was always in camp with him, so playing for Nigeria was normal to me.

"It wasn't a big deal but now I am well known, I appreciate it more now than when I was playing."

Sam Sodje expressed his regret at not being able to play many games for the Super Eagles due to injuries and picked the 1-0 win against a star-studded French team in June 2009 as the highlight of his national team career.

"I got invited a lot but I was often injured. So many invitations that I had I couldn't go. But the few ones I played, honestly I played well every time I wore the shirt.

"My biggest regret is that Nigerian fans did not watch me enough playing for Nigeria. I couldn't play enough games. I missed the 2010 Nations Cup because I was injured.

"The one I was really happy about was France away, we managed to beat them 1-0 and I played really well. That was a good experience for me," he added.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel