Olympic Eagles’ flop, Orji Okwonkwo will return to his club, Montreal Impact of Canada to find Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry in charge of the team, with a promise from the Frenchman that things will now get better for the Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit, megasportsarena.com reports.
Okwonkwo has been in tremendous personal form since arriving on loan from Bologna of Italy last summer, after which he was named the club’s player of the season and nominated for MLS goal of the month, but the same cannot be said about fortunes for the entire squad.
That, though, might change for Okwonkwo and his teammates, as their new gaffer says he has learnt the hard way and now wants to right all the wrongs he had during his last duty post at AS Monaco of France.
Okwonkwo, who was among Nigeria’s revelations en route to a fifth gold medal at Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, would be excited to hear Henry declare that he needs no reminder about his unsuccessful stint as Monaco boss but hopes the experience will benefit him in his new role at Montreal Impact, who compete in the top-flight league of neighboring USA.
Henry failed to spark a change in fortunes at struggling Monaco and was sacked in January after just 103 days in charge but is not about to let his first coaching role define him as he gets set to take charge of Okwonkwo and his pals in the coming days and head into a new MLS season.
During Henry’s stint at Monaco, where he earlier played five seasons and won the league title in 1997, the squad lost 11 of their 20 matches with him as coach of the side, but the 42-year-old ex-striker said it would be a mistake to just give up and not try to show what he has learned.
Henry, who won the World Cup in 1998, said at his introductory news conference in Montreal: “It didn’t work out in Monaco. I can give you a lot of excuses but it didn’t work out and I am here as a coach of Montreal. You guys always remember the good stuff, but I became a better player in the darkness. Hopefully that’s going to help me to become a good coach.”