Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, says the time he stayed out of the team has helped him come back with a bang following a Man of the Match performance against the Warriors of Zimbabwe in AFCON 2019 pre- AFCON friendly on Saturday in Asaba.
Before Saturday’s friendly, Mikel had not played for Nigeria since Russia 218 World Cup and just on his return, he bagged the Most Valuable Player award in the goalless match against Zimbabwe on Saturday.
”When I am ready, I come back,” he told the post-match press conference.
He added: When I come back I give 110 percent. The team has done great up till now, the team has been fantastic, the boys have worked really hard to get us here and I just come to add a little bit of my experience and also to help the team.
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On the goalless draw, Mikel admitted that the Eagles missed the experience of Shehu Abdulahi and Odion Ighalo.
We needed a little bit of experience – Shehu and Ighalo were not on the pitch,” Mikel said at the post match press conference.
‘I think it is also good for the young players to play this game, you know Chukwueze, Kalu, you could see a bit of flashes of talent. They are very good players. The coach has invited the players that will do the job for us. It is a very good blend of young and experience”.
Towards AFCON, Mikel called for improvement: ”I think we will work on when to run with the ball, when not to run, when to pass, but you could see the talent is there for them. I think they can do great things in this Nations Cup.
”We just have to keep talking to them, we the senior players, the coaches and hopefully we will have a very good plan in the Nations Cup and do great things.”