*Counts on the experience of the Boro star to boost the Nigerian squad
Former Super Eagles winger, Finidi George has called on Super Eagles Head Coach Gernot Rohr to have a one-on-one talk with Captain John Mikel Obi to enable them reach a mutual understanding before the three-time African champions head to Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations.
The former Ajax Amsterdam star stated categorically that the player’s experience would be of a huge advantage despite not featuring in any of the qualifiers
“Personally, I don’t know the situation concerning his availability, but he is a respected captain and if his current form is okay, then it’s a plus for the team. He doesn’t need to play all qualifiers for him to have the opportunity to join the team.
“He could be with the team even if he doesn’t get 90 minutes in all games; he could just help them in team building because he is a player other colleagues respect and the young ones will learn from.
“But as a coach you need to speak to him before the tournament and clarify his role in the tournament to avoid a possible burst up and if he agrees then for me it will be a massive boost for the country in Egypt,”Finidi told AOIFootball.com.
Mikel last played for the Super Eagles in Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Argentina at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The 31-year-old former Chelsea star did not feature in any of the qualifiers as Nigeria returned to the continent after a six- year wait.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles are pitched against Senegal or Tunisia in the Pot 1 of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations draw ceremony scheduled to hold on Friday. Eagles are certainly going to face a former champion of the competition in the group stage.
The seeds for the draw were released at the weekend showed Nigeria on the second tier of the seeding.
The seedings were based on performances of qualified teams at the 2013, 2015 and 2017 finals as well as the in the qualifying tournaments for 2015, 2017 and 2019 and the March 2019 FIFA rankings. After winning the 2013 edition in South Africa with Late Stephen Keshi in-charge, Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2015 and 2017 edition.
There are six teams in each pot. Nigeria along with Morocco, DR Congo, Algeria, Mali and Guinea belongs to the second pot. It means that these teams will not be in the same group for the final competition.
Nigeria, like the other teams, will draw one opponent from each of the remaining three pots. In Pot 1 which includes; Egypt, Ghana, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Senegal.
