The new captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, John Mikel Obi, has slammed the Egyptian players for not playing fair during yesterday’...
The new captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, John Mikel Obi, has slammed the Egyptian players for not playing fair
during yesterday’s 2017 AFCON qualifiers that went down in Kaduna.
The Chelsea FC midfielder accused
the Egyptian for not playing according to FIFA's Fair Play rule especially when a
player is down on the pitch.
The Pharaohs 91st
minute equalizer came after the team was distracted because Defender Godfrey
Oboabona had slipped and fallen on the pitch (this was what played Salah, the
goal
scorer onside).
Mikel felt Oboabona’s slip meant
play should have been stopped but the Egyptians continued playing.
“I think we played very well but
we lost a lot of chances that we created that could have fetched us total
victory in today’s match against Egypt”, Mikel told the press after the game. “Everybody is saying we lost the
game in the last three minutes but all I can say is that fair play is fair
play, it doesn’t matter, fair play is fair play.
“Okay you can say we should have
concentrated a little more, but Fair Play is Fair Play. This is cheating, that
is all I can say. It happens everywhere. It doesn’t matter how many minutes it
is, you have to allow it. It is the referee that controls the game.”
He however assured that with the
way the Eagles played, they will win in the return leg in Alexandria, Egypt.
“I am very optimistic like the coach that the
way we played today we have a very good chance of getting a win in Egypt."
