Soccer News of Wednesday, 7 February 2007

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Nigeria boss blames premiership clubs for defeat?

Chelsea and Obafemi Martins came under fire from Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen after Mikel Jon Obi played 90 minutes against Ghana and Martins did not feature in the 18-man squad.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said on Saturday Mikel would be out of action for two weeks with a thigh injury, but the young midfielder played the full 90 minutes of tonight's friendly at Griffin Park, which Ghana won 4-1.

Newcastle cleared Martins to play yesterday, but he failed to show for the match and Eguavoen said he planned to take the matter 'to the highest authority'.

'Do I suspect that Chelsea were not being completely straight with me? I should think so,' he said.

'Everybody saw how Mikel played. He did not show any sign of injury so I am a little bit surprised that Chelsea should have said he was injured.

'Mikel never told me he was injured. I told him he was going to play 90 minutes, and he said he told me he would prefer to play the first half. 'But for Chelsea to say he was injured, something is wrong.

'Martins, to my great surprise, was not here. He was called up to the squad two weeks ago, and Newcastle allowed him to play.

'He is nowhere to be found. I should take it to the highest authority, because it is the highest level of indiscipline and disrespect.'

Ghana coach Claude Le Roy, meanwhile, was left to celebrate his 59th birthday in some style thanks to the superb attacking football his team produced after the interval.

Le Roy said: 'There is a natural motivation to play against the Super Eagles [Nigeria]. They are in the top 10 of the FIFA rankings for a reason.

'I took over after the World Cup and there has been an excellent spirit in the squad since then.

'We were lucky in the first half and the scoreline flattered us a bit. We had to change things on a tactical level and things improved greatly after the break.'

This was likely to have been Eguavoen's final match in charge of the Nigeria, with former Germany and Scotland boss Berti Vogts due to take over next month and Eguavoen staying on as his assistant.

Eguavoen added: 'Our boys had an attitude problem in this match. Ghana came at us really strongly in the second half, and we were far too relaxed in our approach.

'But we played well in the first half, and I do not really think the scoreline reflected the game.'