Mikel Obi puts career on the line

John Mikel Obi is set to defy Chelsea doctor’s orders and feature for the Super Eagles against Namibia on Wednesday, in a game that will be played on artificial pitch.

The midfielder has suffered a recurring back injury and was recently nursing ahip injury. This led to the club doctors insisting that he does not play on the hard surface of an artificial pitch.

However, Obi has shunned those instructions and is ready to do battle against the Brave Warriors, as Nigeria seeks to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Brazil. The player, who has been linked with a move to Galatasaray, trained on Monday, even as coach Stephen Keshi stated that he did not expect his players to struggle on the astro turf of the Sam Nujoma Stadium.

“I don’t expect us to have any problems with the pitch. We have trained on astro turf and just decided to use grass today (Monday). Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will train at the match ground again,” he said.

The temperature in Windhoek, was as low as 6 degrees on Monday, as the Eagles were put through their paces.