John Mikel Obi adds to Eagles’ injury woes

Chelsea’s defensive midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has swelled the growing list of Super Eagles players who will not honour tomorrow’s international friendly against Ghana in London. On Saturday, Mikel limped off shortly before halftime of Chelsea’s 3–1 pre-season win over Rangers to further compound Nigeria’s squad problems.

Mikel was replaced by Josh McEachran after taking a hit to his ankle, and said shortly before the Blues squad took off to London that the injury is ‘not looking good’. “It’s my ankle, and it’s not looking good,” Mikel said.

A scan will be performed to assess the extent of the damage when the squad arrive in London, but it appears the midfielder will now not be available for Nigeria’s friendly fixture against Ghana.
The news will come as a blow to Samson Siasia, who is already contemplating the prospect of being without recalled forward, Osaze Odemwingie to the same ankle injury.

Mikel and Joel Obi have formed an effective partnership in midfield since Siasia took over, and this potential withdrawal could be a big setback. Potential replacements Nosa Igiebor and Fengor Ogude are having trouble with their travel arrangements, but officials are hopeful things will be sorted. Already Eagles will face rivals Ghana on Tuesday without Vincent Enyeama as they do not have visas into the UK.

Also without visas are Ehiosun Ekigho, Israel-based defender Efe Ambrose and Fengor Ogude, who is based in Norway. An unhappy Eagles coach Samson Siasia said: "I am not happy that I will be playing against Ghana without four key players, Vincent Enyeama, Efe Ambrose, Fengor Ogude and Ekhigo Ehiosun.
"These players are key to our rebuilding exercise and they are also very vital to our preparations for the Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Madagascar.

"Like we all know we want to use the friendly against Ghana in London to prepare well for the must-win match against Madagascar and the UK visa problem is now acting as a stumbling block.” He added, “Right now I want to call the NFF technical committee boss, Christopher Green, to inform him of this present predicament as see what solution the NFF could offer because I am very desperate to win this friendly.”

Defender Danny Shittu will be a likely late inclusion and team officials said he has assured them he will join up with the rest of the squad on Monday. Heartland star Chibuzor Okonkwo traveled with NFF officials from Nigeria on Sunday. Siasia blamed the affected players for not acting promptly in respect of their UK visa applications.

"There are some things one needs to do right in time. I expect these guys to have applied for the visas from their respective bases in time since we are not travelling from Nigeria which could have helped this situation,” said Siasia, who arrived London Friday. “This definitely cannot help our rebuilding process and I am really going to address this to forestall re-occurrence in future.

"Nevertheless, we will still try our best not to let down Nigeria in this important friendly. But sincerely speaking I’m not happy with the situation at all."