Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi has slammed reports that team captain Joseph Yobo is not fit enough to play for the team at the Nations Cup.
Speaking at the team’s press conference in Rustenburg on Monday, the former Eagles captain expressed his disappointment at the reports making the round that Yobo was unfit and too old to play in the team that is eyeing a third African title.
He noted that such reports were shabby treatments of African players that were trying hard to impress compared to treatments of European stars.
“I don’t get it. There are players in Europe such as Javier Zanetti that are 37 years and older and when they play, people applaud them. But when an African player is 35 years and he has just one bad game, people will say he is too old and unfit. I just don’t get it.
“He (Yobo) is fit. If he was not, he would not be here. So, I don’t care what anybody says,” a very angry Keshi said.
There have been conflicting reports about Yobo’s fitness with some reports claiming that he was not yet fully fit to return to action for the Eagles.
Yobo sat out the match against Zambia in Mbombela after putting up a poor performance in the team’s opening game against Burkina Faso on January 21.
On his part, Super Eagles and Celtic of Scotland defender Efe Ambrose that was red-carded in the team's opening match against the Stallions of Burkina Faso at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit will return to the team's ranks for the final group match against the Walyas Antelopes of Ethiopia.
This was confirmed by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Assistant Director on Media, Ademola Olajire in a brief interview.
According to Olajire, although Ambrose is now available to the team, whether he would be featured in the squad in the cracker against Ethiopia on Tuesday is entirely dependent on Coach Keshi.
"Efe Ambrose is returning to the team but whether he would play on Tuesday depends entirely on the coach," he said.
Ambrose was handed a match ban by CAF after he saw red following two yellow-card offenses.
Meanwhile, the NFF has denied being involved in the punishment handed out to Egyptian referee, Ghead Grisha who was centre referee in the controversial draw between the Eagles and the Chipolopolos on Friday.
Olajire said that although the NFF did petition Confederation of African Football (CAF), the decision was arrived at without any pressure from the Federation.
"No, we did not pressure CAF for the decision. It was a unilateral decision by the African body which did not want the name of the game brought into disrepute," he said.
Grisha was sacked from officiating at the 2013 Nations Cup after a controversial penalty call handed Zambia a draw against Nigeria in their second group game.
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