Oliseh invites Mikel, Echiejile, 22 other for Congo and Cameroun friendlies

Ahead of the friendly matches against Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroun, Super Eagles head coach Sunday Oliseh has invited 24 players to to prosecute the games.

Source: thenff.com

Among the invitees are Captain Vincent Enyeama, John Obi Mikel, Elderson Echiejile, Godfrey Oboabona and a host of others.

Former junior international defender Abdullahi Shehu gets his first opportunity at senior level, and Moses Simon, who scored against Niger Republic, is also considered, alongside home boys Chima Akas, Austin Oboroakpo, Paul Onobi and Prince Aggrey. There is also room for Watford FC of England striker Odion Ighalo.

THE FULL SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Lille OSC, France); Carl Ikeme (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Sunshine Stars); Femi Thomas (Enyimba FC)

Defenders: Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); Abdullahi Shehu (Uniao da Madeira, Portugal); Elderson Echiejile (AS Monaco, France); Chima Akas (Sharks FC); Godfrey Oboabona (Caykur Rizespor, Turkey); William Troost Ekong (FK Haugesund, Norway); Kenneth Omeruo (Kasimpasa SK, Turkey); Austin Oboroakpo (Abia Warriors)

Midfielders: Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio, Italy); Paul Onobi (Sunshine Stars); Obiora Nwankwo (Coimbra FC, Portugal); John Mikel Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Rabiu Ibrahim (AS Trencin, Slovakia)

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Emmanuel Emenike (Al Ain, UAE); Sylvester Igbonu (FC UFA, Russia); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Victor Moses (West Ham United, England); Odion Ighalo (Watford FC, England); Prince Aggrey (Sunshine Stars)

The Eagles take on Congo on October 8 and Cameroun three days later.

Mikel joins UCL goalscorers after netting his first in the competition

Twitter/@Chelseafc

Nigerian international John Obi Mikel scored his first Champions League goal for his club Chelsea in a 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night.

The midfielder has only scored four times in the league for the Blues but netted in the 56th minutes against the Portuguese side.

Mikel's Russian girlfriend Olga Diyachenko also celebrated him on her Instagram.

John Mikel Obi doubtful for Congo tie, will the Super Eagles miss him?

I hear Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has not fully recovered hence may not be fit enough to feature in the make or mar encounter against Congo and South Africa.

The player recently picked up a knee injury in a League Cup clash against Shrewsbury Town on October 28 and has failed to feature for the English club ever since.

Mikel was an unused substitute for Chelsea in premier league 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

Quoting from Dailypost, the Spokesperson for the team, Ben Alaiya said “We know Mikel is just returning from an injury and was listed for Chelsea’s win at the weekend. But just to be sure our medical team will still have a look at him when he arrives,” 

''But we have no fear what so ever over his fitness for the double header.''

Mikel Obi is an important player for the Eagles no doubt, but with the new crop of home-based player gradually making their way into the squad and foreign based, will Nigeria really miss him?

Have your say.

Chelsea Star Mikel storm Eagles camp with Ebola gloves

Reports from the camp of the Super Eagles is that Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has joined the fight against Ebola Virus.

According Vanguard, Mikel arrived Calabar this afternoon wearing protective hand gloves. When asked by coach Stephen Keshi why he was wearing gloves, Mikel reportedly replied
 

"Coach I have up to four hand gloves and if you don’t mind, I can give you one. I'm not joking with this virus oh” Mikel jokingly told Keshi and everyone present laughed.

Meanwhile, the team's Media Officer Ben Alaiya speaking live on phone to Sports Tonight a programme on Channels TV on Tuesday night confirmed that 19 players are already in camp and the rest expected to fly in on Wednesday.

The Eagles face Congo in their first AFCON qualifiers game on Saturday in Calabar without team captain Vincent Enyeama who was  excused to settle family matters while Osaze is out after he was ruled out by injury.

Mikel, Moses not listed for Chelsea's Austria Pre-season Tour

The duo of John Obi MIkel and Victor Moses were not among Mourinho’s 26-man squad which arrived in Austria earlier today for the start of our two-week European training camp.

Where exactly will these two Nigerians be heading since they are not in the plans of the Special one for the tour? Anyway....

Holidays after the world cup is responsible for their exemption which also include the likes of Oscar who featured for Brazil.

Chelseafc.com reports that the three new signings (Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Filipe Luis) joined up with their team-mates for the first time, and they were joined by Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill, who returned to the group following their post-World Cup break.

The squad touched down early in the afternoon before heading to their hotel. They will train at Waldarena, Velden this evening, with a double session scheduled for tomorrow.

On Wednesday, the team will face RZ Pellen, then NK Olimpija Ljubljana in Slovenia on Sunday, before matches against Vitesse Arnhem and Werder Bremen, in the Netherlands and Germany respectively.

Travelling squad in full:

Petr Cech
Matej Delac       
Mitchell Beeney
Mark Schwarzer              
Branislav Ivanovic           
Oriol Romeu      
Kurt Zouma
Andreas Christensen     
John Terry          
Gary Cahill
Nathan Ake       
Cesar Azpilicueta             
Marco van Ginkel            
Nemanja Matic
Nathaniel Chalobah       
Mohamed Salah
Jeremie Boga    
Lewis Baker       
John Swift          
Cesc Fabregas
Patrick Bamford               
Fernando Torres
Diego Costa
Dominic Solanke              
Filipe Luis            
Isaiah Brown

Mikel Obi: A Distance From the No "10" Tradition

By Adetayo Odulaja

You remember Pele, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Ronaldinho, Francesco Totti, Kaka, the list goes on.... They all have one thing in common which is, their jersey No. 10.

Jersey No. 10 is meant for players who are "cult heroes" in their respective teams and this tradition is as old as football and the trends continue in this World Cup.

For football enthusiasts, it is only natural to expect much from any player wearing the NO. 10 for their country owing to the fact that they most times dictate the play for the rest of the team members in the attract line from the midfield. Simply put, the bulk of the team's creativity rest on their shoulders. They do the thinking, magical, unimaginable and sometimes "cheat".

We know the story of Lionel Messi, Neymar Jnr and the new kid on the block with 5goals, 4assists in 4games, James Rodriguez. However, the same cannot be said of Nigeria number 10 jersey which was made famous by the multi-talented magician, Austin "Jay Jay" Okocha Seeing the cute-looking Mikel Obi playing or acting as No. 10 completely negates the encomium and authority that comes with such a vital role.

Without undermining the effort of the Nigeria national team and it technical crew, one can say that after three matches, the team has been relatively lucky to have progressed to the round of 16 with below average performance from Mikel which has drawn criticism from the fans back home.

Many of the aforementioned names are winners of the Balon D'or and that goes to justify that the number attracted glory to their personalities.

Come to think of it, this same Mikel Obi was the cynosure of all eyes when he was second best to Messi at the World Youth championship in 2005 but today without mincing words we can tell who has evolved into a super character.

Interestingly, some believe that the player,  Mikel would have improved a whole lot if he hadn't been restricted and cultured into his new style. 

What influenced his or informs his style of play today is not the bone of contention now but to state the fact that he must step up his game to be ranked amongst the greats sooner or later because even the kids on he street would prefer a No 10 with dignity.