Tianjin Teda of china midfielder, John Mikel Obi has received an all-clear of full fitness, after copping a knock in action against Iceland.
The former Chelsea star had been feared to be in doubt for Tuesday’s last group match against Argentina, but Eagles’ gaffer, Gernot Rohr has doused all worries over the star’s fitness.
Rohr said it was more of tiredness that affected Mikel in the closing minutes of the national team’s 2-0 win against Iceland on Friday evening.
Mikel was seen holding his wrist and was forced to play through the pain barrier as the team had used all their substitutions, but Rohr does not think It will keep his captain out of the crucial last group match against Argentina on Tuesday.
Rohr expatiated: ”He had a knock, he was very tired because he had to run so much, especially in the second half, he was running up and down.
”Changing position is more work, more defensive work also for him but he doesn’t have a serious injury. He will recover well and hope he will be fit like all the other players for the next game on Tuesday.”
Incidentally, the Eagles’ final Group D clash is against Argentina in Saint Petersburg, the Russian city where Nigeria’s new left-back, Brian Idowu was born.
Rohr also explained that it was a tactical decision to substitute the Amkar Perm of Russia defender at half-time.
The Franco-German tactician said: ”We made one change already at halftime, Brian Idowu had a yellow card and I wanted to make the left side of the pitch more offensive, Tyronne brought it.
”He’s a very offensive fullback, he did it very well. The players understood that we had to be more dynamic and more aggressive in the good sense of the word. Immediately in the first minutes, you saw we had finally shots on target.”
