Super Eagles supremo Lars Lagerback unveiled his 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa yesterday. In it the Swede tactician named Nwankwo Kanu as captain of his team despite dwindling form and signs of weariness.
Also named was Kanu's Portsmouth teammate John Utaka, who has been struggling for fitness and form recently.
Similarly, recuperating Chelsea midfielder Mikel John Obi was included by Lagerback in the World Cup squad, while the Swede did not take a chance on fit-again Ikechukwu Uche, the joint-top scorer in the qualifying series.
Mikel is convalescing from a knee surgery and missed four weeks of action in the English Premier League. He only joined up with the rest of the squad Friday morning after he was certified fit by doctors of his London club. Just how serious is Mikel's injury? Nobody could say for sure but Lagerback said after his team's 1-1 draw with Colombia in London on Sunday that Mikel was left out of the World Cup warm-up match so as not to put pressure on his injury.
However, he said Mikel will star in the Super Eagles next test game against North Korea on June 6 in Johannesburg.
Ike Uche is struggling to regain his stride after returning to competitive football recently after being out of action for seven months following a major knee injury.
Joining Ike Uche in the lurch are Nice defender Onyekachi Apam, who has been nursing a knee problem.
The other dropped players are Peter Utaka, Victor Anichebe, Bassey Akpan, Terna Suswan and Brown Ideye.
Despite coming back from a long spell with injury just recently, assistant captain, Joseph Yobo is also listed.
As Monaco midfielder Lukman Haruna was rewarded for his enterprise and equalising goal against Colombia with a spot in the final party. He will thus feature in three World Cups - FIFA Under-17 World Cup, FIFA Under-20 World Cup and now the senior World Cup.
Meanwhile, Eagles team coordinator, Emmanuel Attah said that a lot of factors were considered before Lars Lagerback arrived at his final hit list to the Mundial.
"The coach has given the reason and we understand what he wants. Ideye had visa problems and was given some tests in training but could not meet up.
"Victor Anichebe also had some training to confirm his fitness, but we saw that he is injured. The coach said we cannot take injured players to the World Cup.
"As for Ikechukwu, he is still rehabilitating," said the chairman of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Football Association.
Related stories: Video overview of Group B in the 2010 World Cup
Video - Obafemi Martins talks about Eagles chances
Super Eagles squad list for the 2010 World Cup
Nwankwo Kanu to retire from international football after World Cup
Nwankwo Kanu to release biopic and book after World Cup
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
if truely.those are the team largerback believe can prosecute the world,it okay by me ,but if he go other wise,he will pay 4 it.............................................
ReplyDelete