One of the untold stories of John Mikel Obi last days as captain and player of the senior national team of Nigeria was his clash with coach of the team Gernot Rohr during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Mikel was a starter in the first game of the Super Eagles which ended in a 1-0 win over Burundi but he picked up a thigh injury which led to his substitution in the game around the 58th minute mark.
He didn’t play another group game until the final match of the and he lasted about same time before he was subbed off. After that game he didn’t get to play again with Rohr claiming that he wasn’t fully fit.
A year ago Rohr confirmed he indeed dropped Mikel for Alex Iwobi who according to him gave the team more balance in the run which ended in a bronze medal.
An out of favour Super Eagles player who was a part of the squad revealed to OwnGoalNigeria.com that Mikel did have a clash with the manager after the group stages which led to his axing.
“ Mikel wasn’t happy with the way we were approaching games and he told the coach who felt his ideas and authorities was being questioned. Mikel felt we were too boring as a team and wanted us to be more adventurous, Rohr didn’t think we should go that route”, he said.
“ It led to a misunderstanding and most of us believe it’s why he didn’t get to play again in the tournament”, he concluded.
