Super Eagles Chief Coach, Sunday Oliseh yesterday
explained why he left out Chelsea of England
midfielder, John Mikel Obi from his list of players
invited for the forthcoming 2017 Africa Cup of
Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Tanzania. Oliseh
who revealed this at a media parley in Abuja said
he made several phone calls including text messages to Obi’s number but he never responded to any.
Sunday Oliseh
The former international who reluctantly spoke
about the issue of Obi revealed that he has no bias
against anybody adding that under him, the
national team will not favour or malign any
Nigerian player.
“Well this issue is an enigma and we have been
trying to understand it but I am in the dark
personally, and with my assistants we spent time
about 11 days in and around Europe talking to
players, watching games. We contacted each of the
players, call them up, call the clubs and eventually
met with the players.
“I went to England on a Thursday and Chelsea was
just coming back, we had fixed our visit to
coincide with the end of their tour before they
played Arsenal. I contacted Obi Mikel, called him
on phone four times, the phone kept on ringing
nobody picked it up, I sent him an SMS and got no
response. But I called Victor Moses the phone rang
three times and he picked it up and I spoke with
him, told him to concentrate on his game.
Super Eagles midfielder, Mikel Obi eared to play
against Cote D’Ivoire
Super Eagles Chief Coach, Sunday Oliseh yesterday explained why he left out Chelsea of England midfielder, John Mikel Obi from his list of players invited for the forthcoming 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Tanzania. Oliseh who revealed this at a media parley in Abuja said he made several phone calls including text
messages to Obi’s number but he never responded to any.
The former international who reluctantly spoke
about the issue of Obi revealed that he has no bias
against anybody adding that under him, the
national team will not favour or malign any
Nigerian player.
“Well this issue is an enigma and we have been
trying to understand it but I am in the dark
personally, and with my assistants we spent time
about 11 days in and around Europe talking to
players, watching games. We contacted each of the
players, call them up, call the clubs and eventually
met with the players.
“I went to England on a Thursday and Chelsea was
just coming back, we had fixed our visit to
coincide with the end of their tour before they
played Arsenal. I contacted Obi Mikel, called him
on phone four times, the phone kept on ringing
nobody picked it up, I sent him an SMS and got no
response. But I called Victor Moses the phone rang
three times and he picked it up and I spoke with
him, told him to concentrate on his game.
After the game he came to my hotel and we met
and I told him my plans for the national team. I left
to Liverpool to meet the other player and I spent
about six hours to go there and back but there
was no response from Mikel until I returned here.
I think it was yesterday (Wednesday) that I saw a
missed call, so at the moment I don’t know what
the situation is. For me everybody is the same and
will be treated the same.”
He also gave words of encouragement to the home
based players by stating that any of them that
proves his worth will be given the opportunity to
play, if they were better than their foreign based
compatriots.
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