6th May, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Former Super Eagles defender, Mike Onyemachara has died mysteriously at his apartment in Ajegunle area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
Onyemachara was also a member of the Nigeria U20-team at the 1989 Fifa U20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia where they won a silver medal.
He was said to have died on Thursday.
The Niche reports that the ex-international was not sick before his death.
He was reportedly healthy when his wife left for work and kids left for school only for them to return and see that the food served him on the table was not touched and he was dead.
Some of his team mates who were very close to him, however, said that he had been complaining of back pains in recent times.
Onyemachara, a highly skillful defender, played most of his club football with First Bank of Lagos and was an influential member of the Saudi 89 Flying Eagles team.
The defender was in the squad that denied the USA a place in the final of the 1989 cadet World Cup, but the Flying Eagles went on to lose 2-0 to Portugal.
He also played in the match against the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). That match was regarded as the ‘Damman Miracle’. The Flying Eagles were down 4-0 and came back to equalise and won the match.