Eagles: Okonkwo’s Injury, A Blow

The ankle injury that would prevent captain of the home-based Super Eagles, Chibuzor Okonkwo from playing in Nigeria’s remaining matches in the ongoing WAFU Nations Cup in Abeokuta, Ogun State, has been described as a terrible blow by his teammates.

P.M.Sports gathered that the Heartland Football Club defender sustained the injury before the regional tournament. He managed to play the Eagles’ first match against Liberia and featured against Niger but only play the first half of the tie that Nigeria won 4-0 on Saturday at the MKO Abiola Stadium.

The expectation of his teammates and soccer fans was to see Okonkwo back for the second half of the match , but they were disappointed when the injury stopped him from continuing with the match. The development forced coach Samson Siasia to leave him out of the encounter. He has also been ruled out of the semi final match scheduled for Thursday.

Some of the players, who spoke on Okonkwo’s injury said the team would miss their captain in the semi final. According to Warri Wolves’s Ekigho Ehiosun, “We will miss Okonkwo in the semi final because he is an inspiration to most of us in the team. It is rather unfortunate that the ankle injury has been aggravated and knocked him out of the competition. I wish him a speedy recovery.”

Another player, Jaiyeola Yusuf said Okonkwo is a solid rock in Eagles’ defence, “There is no doubt that we’ll miss him. I play with him in the defence. The only thing we can use to honour Okonkwo is to win the trophy for him,” he said.

Wasiu Sowemimo saw the injury as a big blow to the national team in the WAFU Cup. “His absence will no doubt affect us in the remaining matches of this tournament. But I want to assure Nigerians that we’ll cope and reach the final,” he said.
—Sunday Akintoye