Two Laudable Sacrifices Made By Mikel During His 14-Year International Career

Published: July 19, 2019

Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel officially ended his international career on Thursday after helping his young teammates to a third-place finish at the ongoing AFCON 2019 tournament which is set to end later today, Friday.

Though the 89-capped Nigeria international has put an end his international career, some of his good deeds and sacrifices for the national team will be remembered by many Super Eagles fans forever.

Allnigeriasoccer.com goes through the player's profile and comes up with top two laudable sacrifices made by the former Chelsea midfielder during his 14 years of international career.

1. Footed The Bills Of Dream Team VI Before Rio 2016 Olympics

Mikel helped Nigeria's Olympic team win bronze in Brazil. Apart from starring on the pitch, he used his own money to organize travel for the team, pay for food and book training pitches.

The Chelsea legend spent more than 30,000 pounds to fund the team handled by Samson Siasia.

2. Featured Against Argentina Despite News Of His Father's Kidnap

Some hours to the make-or-break tie against Argentina during 2018 FIFA World Cup, Mikel reportedly got a call that his father had been kidnapped.

Despite the sad news, the captain, who knew the importance of the clash, kept the life-threatening incident to himself and still went on to captain the team.

Unfortunately, it ended in a sad way as Argentina managed to score a late winner in the dying minutes of the game to end the Super Eagles participation.

These two events were enough to justify the player's love for the National team and for his country in general.

Retirement or not, the 32-year-old man remains one of the few Nigeria players who will be regarded as Super Eagles legend based on the sacrifices they've made for the country.

Ibukun Italoye

Photo Credit : cafonline.com