Eagles Accuse Mikel of Faking Injury

Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has been accused by some of his team mates in the Super Eagles of a bogus injury claim to warrant his exclusion from the friendly match against Burkina Faso in Kaduna today.

Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi allowed Mikel and Victor Moses to travel to London on Sunday after the Eagles World Cup qualifier against Malawi in Calabar on Saturday.

Mikel was exempted from today’s friendly match against the Burkinabe because he told the coaches he aggravated a calf injury against the Flames.

But THISDAY checks revealed yesterday that some members of the team, notably goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, were not happy that the technical crew decided to treat Mikel specially.

Nigeria’s match against Burkina Faso is crucial as the Eagles will aim for a win over their fellow West Africans in order to consolidate on their  status as one of the top five nations in the world ahead of the Africa’s 2014 wolrd cup final qualifications draws..

The world ranking will be used to seed Africa’s five top sides for the final play-offs in October in November.

The Eagles were seething with their officials that Mikel’s was being allowed to select the matches he would play by virtue of his exemption from the friendly match.

Keshi had also granted permission to Moses because the midfielder said he required some time to settle down with Liverpool which he joined on loan on transfer deadline day.

Enyeama, we gathered, objected that the players were not taken into confidence about Mikel’s fitness as they only leant he would not be going to Kaduna on the day the team was departing Calabar.

Enyeama and Mikel are not the best of friends as they fell out in Fortaleza, Brazil during the FIFA Confederations Cup after Mikel objected to the selection of Enyeama ahead of Austin Ejide for the match against Spain.

Mikel and some team members felt Ejide should have been picked ahead of Enyeama as the latter was liable for conceding a cheeky second goal against Uruguay during Nigeria’s 2-1 loss in Salvador.

The Eagles also grudgingly accepted the $5000 bonus offer for the match win after the bonus was cut from $10,000 by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), which claimed insufficient funds.

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