By Guest Writer Viorel Mesca.
Chelsea’s midfielder, John Obi Mikel has ruled himself out of the World Cup due to fears over his recovery from knee surgery. Mikel had high hopes that surgery on a knee injury would be useful and that he could recover in time for the World Cup. Although he was named for Nigeria’s 23-man squad, it was announced this morning that he won’t play. According to team official Emmanuel Attah:
“We have dropped Mikel from the World Cup squad after he told the team he did not want to put his career at risk as his knee injury has yet to fully heal after a recent surgery”.
Nigeria begin their World Cup campaign against Maradona’s Argentina on the 12th of June before moving on to face Greece and Korea Republic. One could argue that Chelsea’s players are jinxed as Mikel joins Germany and Ghana internationals Michael Ballack and Michael Essien on the sidelines for this tournament.
Meanwhile, Didier Drogba’s participation in the tournament is in doubt after he fractured his right elbow during Ivory Coast’s friendly win over Japan. L’Equipe reported that both Didier and Kolo Toure allegedly said that he would miss out the tournament. Drogba’s injury is a massive blow for the Ivorians as they face Portugal and Brazil in group of death. Whether Didier recovers in time for the tournaments, it remains to be seen.
