TheCable

Saturday’s bronze medal-winning feat of Dream Team VI saved Nigeria the same of exiting Rio 2016 Olympics without winning a single medal. While winning bronze in the male football event at least gave millions of Nigerians something to cheer about, it is John Obi Mikel who is likely the biggest beneficiary.

For years, Mikel has endured a love-hate relationship with Nigerian (and Chelsea) football fans. When he missed Nigeria’s matches, he was criticised for showing a lack of commitment; but when he marshalled the midfield as Nigeria won the 2013 AFCON, he was an instant hero.

When he sat on the bench at Chelsea, he was derided — and his detractors never remember that he has managed to play for all the managers that have come in since he joined 10 years ago. And when he played, the fault was that he never attacked — that he hardly scored. Since Jose Mourinho converted him to a defensive midfielder and other Super Eagles coaches followed suit, Mikel has been a shadow of himself.

But the Mikel we saw in Brazil was the Mikel of old — the Mikel who dazzled at the Holland 2005 World Youth Championship, completing series of skillful, clear-cut dribbles to create space for his teammates and make the striker’s job easy. Mikel won the Silver Ball at that tournament, bettered only by Lionel Messi, possibly the greatest ever human (or spirit) to play the game.

Mikel celebrates bronze win at Rio

Eleven years after, the Mikel of then is back. At Rio, Mikel was Nigeria’s most important player. Anyone who watched all of Nigeria’s matches will agree that we may not have made it out of the group stage without Mikel, and there was certainly no way we would have reached the semis without him.

He had a hand in more than half of The Dream Team’s goals at the tournament. In the only significant match lost by the team — the other was a dead robber — Mikel fashioned out the best chance of the game, slaloming past a maze of German defenders before unleashing an uncharacteristic shot. Were it not for some last-ditch defending by the Germans, he would have scored from that move and the Dream Team may well have advanced to the final.

Mikel’s statistics in Nigeria’s most important match of the tournament — the bronze medal duel with Honduras — says it all. Nigeria scored three goals; Mikel assisted all of them! Antonio Conte must surely be wondering by now where best to deploy Mikel, and his rumoured suitors, such as Inter Milan and Galatasaray must now be surer what asset awaits them should they concretise their interest.

Forget what is going on at Chelsea, is it time Nigeria converted Mikel to the Number 10 role, just behind the strikers. It is Gernot Rohr’s decision but let’s have your say!

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