Super Eagles captain, John Mikel Obi has been ruled out of next Monday’s international friendly between Nigeria and DR Congo, on account of his appearance in action with his club, Tianjin Teda of China last weekend, which faults FIFA’s 10-day rest period between the end of season and national team duties.
The FIFA rule also affects Changchun Yatai of China striker, Odion Jude Ighalo, Las Palmas of Spain midfielder, Oghenekaro Etebo and Crotone of Italy striker, Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo (Simy), as they all played for their respective clubs over the past weekend.
This comes in the wake of FIFA’s directive to all the 32 participating teams to ensure their players listed for the World Cup observe a 10-day rest after their last game of the season as a means of ensuring they stay fresh.
Amkar Perm of Russia defender, Brian Idowu is also likely to join those who will miss the game due to the rule, as he was listed against FC Tambov in the second leg of the Russia Premier League qualification play-offs.
He joins Mikel, who played on Friday in the Chinese Super League, while Ighalo was in action on Saturday.
Italy-based Joel Chukwuma Obi may not be affected, as he was on Torino’s bench for 90 minutes, while ‘Simy’ saw action but could not help Crotone escape relegation from the Serie A in their last game at the weekend.
