After
waiting for seven years, the Super Eagles and Chelsea FC midfielder,
John Obi Mikel, finally scored his first English Premier League goal
against Fulham on September 21, 2013, Saturday, rapidly increasing his
chances for the Glo/CAF African Footballer Of The Year Award billed for
Lagos next year.
The
fans in Nigeria celebrated the goal with frenzy, with some calling
jokingly on the Federal Government 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 FC and Cote d’Ivoire’s
Yaya Toure.
Therefore,
Mikel has shown increase of his performance while Toure’s team were
ousted from the Nations Cup, which makes it a lot easier for the
Nigerian to grab the CAF award. 
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