Ilyasu Ishyaku, the only remaining player among the 2000 FA Cup winning team with Niger Tornadoes, and he's set to make it double with the Ikon Allah Boys 17 after surprisingly beating Enugu Rangers 1-0 in the final, with a clash against Cup favorites Akwa United in the 2017 Aiteo Cup final.
Ilyasu has also won the cup with Julius Berger FC in 2002 when they surprised the bookmakers by hammering fans' favorites Yobe Desert Stars 3-0 in the final.
In this exclusive interview with http://onward247news.blogspot.com.ng, Ilyasu disclosed that the young Tornadoes are set to reawaken the spirit of 2000 to dislodge the Promise Keepers.
The soft spoken midfielder talked about his leadership role on the team, praised Coach Abubakar Bala's influence on the team and sundry.
Read the excerpt
As the only player that won the last FA (Aiteo) Cup with Niger Tornadoes, how does it feel getting a chance to lift the cup again after 17 years?
It's a great pleasure to be in another final, not only for me but for the teams as a whole because it's been long over due to be in another cup final. Coming from a state that love football, so we are happy to be there and personally I'm happy to be part of this too.
What has been the magic for you getting this far with Tornadoes and again getting to the final again?
I think a lot of what you will call magic has to do with my discipline, although I didn't stay in Tornadoes in all 17 years, I've had experience elsewhere. I was also part of Julius Berger FC team that won the FA Cup in 2002, then I traveled out, went out of the game for three to four years, but I thank God I was able to get back and play football again stronger and then back to Tornadoes and I saw it as an opportunity to play again and the coaches led by Coach Abubakar Bala have been very supportive and saw that it's an opportunity to give back to the younger players in the tea, with my experience and I think I'm grateful so far.
17 is a big number for a player, how has it helped you and how much of impact has that been on the team?
Yea, it's really massive number, like I really tell the boys that, you don't know how important it is to play in the cup final i get there, that has been my encouraging words for them and I think they heed to my advise which make them to push, and I still tell them that it's until they get there (Aiteo Cup final) that they will know how big it is.
Niger Tornadoes were complete outsiders getting to this stage, but you've been able to get past Plateau United (new NPFL champions), then the defending champions (FC IfeanyiUbah) how did you guys get over it and what were you telling your team mates during those games?
It's all about the experience, it's all about the magnitude of it and youthfulness in the team that has get us this far, and for the fact we are underdogs makes it easier for us, I keep telling them at every point to just go out there and enjoy themselves, play together as we always do in training, I told them it's the same experience I've had in 2000 and 2002, then were a teams from Division Two playing teams from premier league, we won Nwanyanwu Nationale and Enugu Rangers in the final, nobody gave us the chance then, they thought we were just going there to make up the numbers and its tilting towards that time and I told them if the spirit to win is there and high, we can repeat what happened in 2000, and I'm really happy with the set of boys we have and for the fact that the TA (Bala Abubakar) has been a very good leader supportive, he give me the platform to impact to the boys and raise their morale and I'm happy a lot of them listened to me.
How prepare are you and the team ready for the final against Akwa United?
As always, we are prepared, we are focused, paying attention to details at the training, we've played against them twice in the league, we know how they play, no doubt they are a good side, we know ourselves, I think it will be ma interesting final and confident of lifting the trophy once again.
It's a target to complete a hat trick of Cup success, second with Tornadoes, how do you think the final will look like?
I think we are psyched already, there have been a lot of support from management, technical crew, fans and supporters and I know the spirit in the team is geared toward lifting that trophy, nothing less for us this time around.
I will urge them to continue to get behind us, like they have been supporting us in all through the season, we hope they will come to Lagos to support us, and hopefully the magic of year 2000 will come back again.
What do you think of Abubakar Bala since he's been around as the Technical Adviser of Niger Tornadoes?
He's been wonderful, he's truly being an amazing personality, if you grade our performance so far, it's been massive experience from the start of the season till the end, the good part of it is that a lot of the boys have not had a premier league experience and to find out that we are in such a stage rubbing shoulders with the big boys in the league and doing really well, I think it's a big kudos to him.
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