Is Mikel Good For African Footballer Of The Year?

After waiting for seven years, Super Eagles and Chelsea FC of England midfielder, John Obi Mikel, finally scored his first English Premier League goal against Fulham on Saturday, making him a strong contender for the Glo/CAF African Footballer Of The Year Award billed for Lagos next year.

Soccer loving Nigerians celebrated the goal with frenzy, with some calling jokingly on the Federal Government of Nigeria to declare seven days holiday to mark the end of Mikel’s goal drought. It may sound amazing but that was the wish of Nigerian football fans.

Football pundits in Nigeria are of the view that Mikel should be rewarded with the 2013 edition of the Glo/CAF African Footballer of The Year Award by the Confederation of African Football, CAF, judging by his recent performances. With a 2013 African Cup of Nations medal, the UEFA Champions League and EUROPA League medals to his credit, some believe that it is time Mikel was crowned the best player in Africa.

Since Stephen Keshi was named as coach of the Super Eagles, Mikel has been a regular, with his sterling performance on the field as an added advantage for him if CAF wants to look in that direction in giving him the award. Mikel’s five star performances at the Nations Cup was pivotal to ending Nigeria’s 19 years wait before winning the AFCON tourney in South Africa early in the year.

The Super Eagles had an abysmal performance at the 2013 Confederations Cup held in Brazil but Mikel, the former Lyn Oslo of Norway player, was on the scorer’s sheet in the 6-1 bashing of little known Tahiti.

There are  three other players standing in Mikel’s way for the award and they are his compatriots, Emmanuel Emenike of  Fenerbahce of Turkey, Victor Moses, who is on loan to Liverpool from Chelsea and Cote d’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure.

Yaya’s country were strong favourites to defeat Nigeria and go ahead to lift the Nations Cup this year, but Mikel’s input in the semifinal clash went a long way in ensuring that Nigeria did not only deny Cote d’Ivoire a final berth but went ahead  to lift the trophy.

Cote d’Ivoire failed to live up to their favourites’ tag at the Nations Cup but Yaya’s contribution to his club, Manchester City, cannot be quantified. The edge Yaya has over Mikel is his goal scoring prowess. In the 2012/13 season Yaya scored a total of six goals as against Mikel’s zero.

Emenike on his part would be drawing his strength from his performance at the 2013 Nations Cup, where he won the Highest Goal Scorer Award, but his achievement  at his former club, Spartak Moscow, cannot fetch him the needed points to deny Mikel of the award.

While Moses was not a regular for Chelsea last season, he played a formidable role in Nigeria’s emergence as the reigning African champions.

Since Mikel posted an outstanding showing to ensure Toure’s team were ousted from the Nations Cup, it makes it a lot easier for the Nigerian to grab the CAF award.