Jun 3, 2014; Chester, PA, USA; Nigeria midfielder Ogenyi Onazi (17) and midfielder John Mikel Obi (10) look to control the ball Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Though many of Chelsea FC’s international stars away on EURO 2016 duty over this international football break, four of the squad have been on duty for their respective countries as part of their qualification attempts for the Africa Cup of Nations, which is to be held this coming January.
It’s been an interesting time for Blues defensive midfielder John Obi Mikel whilst representing Nigeria. Following a humiliating 1-0 defeat to Sudan on Saturday, Mikel was key in helping the Super Eagles revenge that defeat on Wednesday, beating the visitors 3-1 in Abuja. However a reported assault on a Nigerian journalist following a training session on Monday, has left Mikel with a few questions to answer.
The alleged assault on the reporter from Kiss FM in Abuja, is apparently only days after a similar alleged assault on a former media officer for the Nigerian international team, who commenting in the Nigerian Daily Post said:
Mikel unleashed a “vitriolic assault” on a “former captain of the team” and had a “few choice words” for other squad members.
Thankfully, neither incident appears to have affected Mikel as he assisted with a perfectly timed through ball to Ahmed Musa to open the scoring for Nigeria on Wednesday.
It was a good night too for Chelsea FC right back Kenneth Omeruo, with a solid and relatively uneventful 90 minutes, helping Nigeria to jump above Sudan into 3rd place in their group. Though the win has come too late to save manager Stephen Keshi’s job.
Christian Atsu, the young and highly talented midfielder currently on loan from Chelsea to Everton, did not unfortunately play for his country Ghana, who notched up a similar 3-1 victory against Guinea.
Meanwhile, ‘lost boy’ Mohamed Salah bagged his 20th goal for Egypt in their match up against lowly Botswana. He is already the country’s 9th top goalscorer and only 22 years old. That said, he may well have moved up the ranking a tad further had the two shots that hit the post actually have gone in.
One wonders how much longer he will stay at Chelsea FC…