Chelsea FC midfielder, John Mikel Obi, is dreaming big; he wants to make an impact with the Super Eagles at the FIFA World Cup billed for Brazil this month.
Mikel Obi
Mikel, who started his official football career at the age of 12 when he was picked from over 3,000 young talents to play in Pepsi Football Academy (PFA), is one of the players Coach Stephen Keshi will be banking on for Nigeria’s success at the World Cup.
He gained headlines for Nigeria at the FIFA Under-17 World Championships held in Finland in 2003. Subsequently, he went on trial to South African club, Ajax Cape Town, before joining Lyn Oslo in Norway.
In the summer of 2005, he played for Nigeria at the FIFA World Youth Championships (WYC) held in The Netherlands. He had an excellent tournament until Nigeria reached the final, where it lost 2–1 to Argentina. He won the Silver Ball after being voted the tournament’s second best player.
He made his debut for Nigeria’s senior team on August 17, 2005, when he came on as a second half substitute in a 1–0 friendly win over Libya. He did not play for the national team again prior to being named in the squad for the 2006 African Cup of Nations.
In Nigeria’s first group game, which was against Ghana, he was an unused substitute. However, he was introduced into the second game, against Zimbabwe, early in the second half. Within 10 minutes of coming on, he supplied the corner that resulted in Christian Obodo heading the game’s opening goal, and scored Nigeria’s second goal.
He made his first international start in Nigeria’s final group game, in a 2–1 victory over Senegal.
Berti Vogts, manager of the Nigerian national team, dropped Mikel from the team’s squad for the African Nations Cup qualifier against Niger, for failing to honour invitation to the previous match against Uganda. Mikel cited an injury, but because he did not attend an independent check by Nigerian officials, he was dropped.
This, and his refusal to play for the Nigerian Under-23 side resulted in his suspension by the then Nigeria Football Association (NFA).
After apologising, he was called to the national squad for the Nations Cup. During the 2008 Nations Cup in Ghana, he scored one goal and registered one assist, both against Benin Republic, to help Nigeria qualify for the quarter-finals against hosts Ghana, where Nigeria narrowly lost 2–1.
He had been called up for the Under-23 side in preparation of the team’s last Olympic qualifier on March 26, 2008, needing a win to qualify.
His failure to show up for any of the qualifiers, again, set off some controversy with the U-23 team coach, Samson Siasia, who dropped him from the Olympics squad amid significant furore from the media.
On June 5, 2010, he was ruled out of the World Cup due to injury. He had been struggling to shake off a knee problem after undergoing surgery in May, though there were also reports that an ankle injury was to blame for Mikel’s withdrawal.
He was called up to Nigeria’s 23-man squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). He was also selected for Nigeria’s squad at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.
And for this World Cup, Keshi has come out to say that Mikel is one of the players he will be relying on to deliver in Brazil.