Mikel
Obi has said that he is returning to the Super Eagles to qualify
Nigeria to the next Africa Cup of Nations after the Eagles missed out of
the last tournament.
On
Tuesday, the Chelsea midfielder was picked among 15 foreign-based pros
for the return leg clash against the Lone Star of Liberia to be played
on October 13 in Calabar with the overall winners advancing to the
tournament final stage in South Africa in January.
“I
am ready to put in my best to see that we redeem ourselves by defeating
Liberia to secure the Nations Cup ticket. Missing out of last edition
still hurts and so this is a must-win game and I am ready to do battle,”
Mikel told MTNFootball.com.
The
Eagles were held to a 2-2 draw in Monrovia by hosts Liberia earlier
this month with Mikel opting out of that clash after it was first learnt
that the game would be played on an artificial pitch.
But
the Chelsea midfielder has again restated his total commitment to the
national team cause despite suggestions to the contrary.
“I
have no other nation apart from Nigeria and I am happy to be back in
the Eagles even though I have always seen myself as part of the team
even when I was not playing games.”
Mikel,
who has won 37 caps and scored two goals since his debut in 2005, has
yet to play for Nigeria under Stephen Keshi, who took over from Samson
Siasia in November.
The
Nigeria Football Federation on Wednesday condemned the criticisms
trailing the list of invited players for the match against Liberia.
A member of the Technical Committee told the News Agency of Nigeria that anybody questioning the number of invited players was ignorant of the reasons behind the action.
Keshi had on Tuesday released the list of invited players made up of 15 foreign and 23 home-based players for the final camping.
Some
followers of the game had questioned the rationale behind the
invitation of 38 players, for a 10-day camping exercise. They described
the number as “too large.”
“You
cannot expect the coach to pick 11 players to prepare for the Liberia
match. You need this large number because he is also looking ahead. For
the foreign-based list, some of us were not too happy with the
performance of some of the players that went to Liberia, so there is
need to beef up the squad,” the NFF official said.
Punch Nigeria
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