‘Mikel will return for South Africa tie’

Super Eagles’ Media Officer, Toyin Ibitoye has revealed that senior national team captain, John Obi Mikel will be in the squad to face South Africa in a Cameroun 2019 African Nations Cup qualifier next month.

Mikel was conspicuous in his absence from a list of players released by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Monday ahead of a friendly match against Corsica later this month and the first phase of preparations for the game against the Bafana Bafana.

But Ibitoye clarified the situation in a tweet yesterday, saying, “the 25-man Super Eagles list out on Monday is for the Corsica friendly/Paris camp, not for the 2019 AFCON clash versus South Africa.

“At the end of May, the list of players for 2019 AFCON qualifiers versus Bafana Bafana on June 10 2017 in Uyo will be released.”

The list, which also omitted Super Eagles assistant captain, Ogenyi Onazi, includes four home-based players, Stephen Odey, Sikiru Olatunbosun, Alhassan Ibrahim and Ikechukwu Ezenwa, who are expected to use the camping in France to make case for the Nigerian Premier League players.

He said the coaches would use the camping in France to run the rules over some of the new players and decide who deserves to be in the national team.