Born John Michael Nchekwube Obinna,now widely known as John Obi Mikel,the midfielder,despite chalking a number of amazing career highs,in his relatively young path thus far,has been one of the most underrated players in world football,and as vilified.From his green days,he looked a bright prospect in the game,enjoying a great time on the green turf,coming second best only to a player who would go on to become the world's best player at senior level(having won a record four ballon d'ors to his name),"you know who",at the FIFA organized world youth championships in the summer of 2005 held in Holland.
Widely tipped then as the next big star who could pull the super eagles team along to greater glory,he secured a much publicized controversial move to Chelsea from Norwegian club Lyn Oslo somewhere in 2006,under club coach Jose Mourinho.Originally an attacking midfielder,Obi was transformed into a defensive midfield anchor man following Claude Makele's move away from Stanford bridge,where he has gone on to play crucial roles in Chelsea's title winning campaigns till date,with his astounding performance in the champions league final triumph against Bayern Minich in their own backyard,the Allianz Arena in 2012 one of his finest outings for the club.
It is open secret however,that many soccer faithful and a section of the Chelsea support base,do not see his importance and value to the team,but genuine football understanding and loving individuals who know what the sport is about will appreciate the very crucial role John Obi plays for club and country,though not popularly heralded.
Strengths
Tough tackling and calculated aggression for the ball,breaking up play in the middle of the park,screening and protecting the back four as well as his ability to pass the ball around quite well.
His weaknesses,which had
to do with ill temper and lack of awareness in the centre of the park,seem to have been gotten over.
Club importance
Manager after manager who arrived at the bridge following the departure of Jose Mourinho ,made him a regular first team feature in games,underlying his importance to the team.One would wonder why coach after coach would play Mikel if indeed aspersions cast by some soccer noise makers holds true.Meanwhile,on his 300th official club appearance milestone,the Nigerian rose highest to power home an inch-perfect Willian free kick,becoming only the fourth non- British Chelsea star to have achieved such incredible figures behind undisputed club greats;Petr Cech (459),Didier Yves Drogba (341),and Gianfranco Zola (312) games,a testament to the fact that the Nigerian international has been one of the unsung heroes of the Chelsea team.
"Mikel is the best screen in front of the defence that Chelsea has,and is one of the best in the world
at this role"-Rik Sharma,pundit and reporter/writer for daily mail's online portal.
"While Nigerian fans are naturally delighted at the at the elegant influence Mikel has had in the middle of the park over the last year of the sport,joy is tinged with regret when remembering the delirious talent stolen by English football"-Ed Dove,after the confed cup,in a bleacher report,referring to the role change Mikel has had to go through at Chelsea.
Obviously ,the Nigerian has matured in the game,and his relevance in both teams cannot be overstated.
He is not exactly your go-to game changer,flamboyant player with all the power,technique,goal threat,and physicality,but he is certainly best at what he does.He could probably be likened to Barcelona and Spain's Sergio Busquets ,who is not known for his attacking prowess,goal threat
or physical dominance in midfield,but does the simple things which keep Barcelona ticking.Just as
underrated as Mikel,Sergio is fantastic at screening the rearguard of both Barcelona and Spanish national teams,and without him,these teams appear having a piece of their puzzle missing.
Flawed comparisons
It is sad however,to find people who call themselves followers and lovers of the game,making erroneous comparisons between the pair,John Obi and Yaya Toure.One such person posted on my Facebook page on Thursday night asking; "are you saying Mikel is better than Toure?"
Then I thought to myself,why would any one want to compare the two and what they do on the same wavelength?
While Yaya is a box-box midfielder for both club and country,he scores many more goals and collects many more assists than he ordinarily will if playing as a screen. And his ability to combine
pace,power,shooting and physical presence in a game makes him undoubtedly,one of the finest in the world.
But to compare Yaya in stats and goals to Mikel's anchoring of midfield,mopping up lose balls in front of the defence,breaking up opposition attacks,appears somewhat misplaced in my opinion.
Judging the two therefore on goals,and assists bases is quite unfair,and neither here nor there.The two are different individuals and play different roles for their respective teams,and for me I think are both best at what they do.
Essence of CAF POTY award
Am not too sure what the CAF player of the year award held annually sets out to reward.I have heard people argue that it is an award to the best individual player;what the player has done on his own,as well as personal achievements.I have also heard those that make the case in point that it is to reward the player who has influenced both club and country and has achieved more team successes during
the year under review.
I read a comment on Nigerian fm station Brila Radio's Facebook page;
"CAF on its website,stated that it is about how much the player had impacted African Football,and if that was the line,perhaps John Obi should have won the vote,not what was achieved in the colours of any club side"-Dr. Larry Izamoje,chairman of the Brila group,Nigeria.
I would not even go into all the fuss about the award eluding certain players at certain times in their careers when they were widely tipped to have won it.Lots of questions have been raised and remain unanswered as to how and why some players made the short list.
Soccer,a team sport
Football,unlike tennis and golf,is a team sport.Whereas tennis and golf require individuals to play and compete for honours,football requires normally a group of eleven players at a time to compete with
another set of eleven players,all with different specialization,skill and talent on the field of play.Every player in each set of eleven players is as important as the one who scores the goal/s for the team to win.If ever there is a capitulation,it is the team that takes the flack.
Kojo,the fifteen year old boy living next door often tells his peers during soccer debates that if a player alone was capable of playing soccer,there was no need then for the other ten players to be on the pitch.He often says to his friends that even the Ronaldos and Messis of this world cannot play the sport alone,that is taking the ball from the goal kick and racing up the pitch to score.
If football was intended to be an individual sport,the originators and brainchildren would not have made room for departments on the field;defensive ,forward,midfield and goalkeeping.
This certainly tells me that the game involves much more than individuality,though it sometimes takes a moment or two of some individual masterclass to make something happen on the field.It takes the collaboration and togetherness of a group of players of different skills and talents to play and win.
Swiss tennis star,Roger Federer winning the best player award in 2008 is understandable,for a sport
like tennis,but the notion to reward individuals as best in a team sport like football definitely raises questions.
Best player award must be a "holistic" venture
For me,if an accolade such as the best player award at every level,if it has to be given at all,must be based on more than bias,sentiments,and prejudice.A clearly outlined multi faceted criteria could be adopted.For an individual to merit an award of this nature it is only prudent that;the individual must have achieved a remarkable feat with his/her team;collective success,a personal high or achievement,and then the player must have played an influential role in the team's "cocoa season".he/she must have as well done enough to merit regular playing time for both club and country,coupled with good
disciplinary record and less controversy in both professional and private life.This is just me thinking aloud ....I'm not too sure what the criteria of previous editions of the best player awards at all
levels were used,that may be a discussion for another day,but certainly If an individual has to be awarded "best" in a team venture,it must really involve more than the basics.
Award an incentive for "selfishness" and "individualism"
The open show of individualistic tendencies on the field of play by some players have been as a result somewhat of some of these awards.Players who can release the ball to a better placed colleague to stab home or pass to another even closer team mate to make use of ,sometimes do not.It is common to see players trying to do too much by themselves on the field when they could choose a safe and more convenient option.One wants to score the classiest of goals,to make the most fanciful dribbles,to grab all the headlines in the tabloids at the expense of team effort.All of these to some extent have been and continue to be motivations of the best player awards.Why not give best player awards to individual sports and team awards to team sports?again just thinking aloud.
On the CAF awards 2013
Three finalists for this year's award were made up of Ivorian international,Yaya Toure of club side Manchester city,his compatriot Didier Drogba who plays for Galatasaray and then Nigeria's John Obi Mikel of Chelsea.
Didier according to CAF,left Shenua for Turkish giant Galatasaray the season past and helped them to championship victory scoring some five goals in thirteen appearances.He had at the time of the shortlist scored some nine goals in all competitions including the champions league in the current season.His performance however,at the AFCON left a lot to be desired.His advancement in age could be blamed for this,but the Ivorian managed three goals en route qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
John Obi Mikel was a Chelsea regular and played an influential role in Chelsea's UEFA Europa
league win in 2013.He was again outstanding for Nigeria during the AFCON,the driving force from midfield for the super eagles,scoring a peach of a goal against Uruguay,culminating in winning the trophy and was influential during the qualifying series for the 2014 showpiece in Brazil.
Two goals at the group stages of the 2013 AFCON could not help his Ivorian team progress past the
quarter final stage,though serving as a pillar in midfield.Yaya played a crucial role in the qualifiers scoring four times as Ivory Coast made it to the World Cup.He was a regular for Manchester City scoring a number of goals for the team.
It is however difficult to comprehend how the Ivorian pipped the Nigerian star for the award.I believed,just as many others did,that John Obi had just done enough to win the award.There is no denying the fact that Yaya is one of the best African players around,but looking closely at the year under review holistically,successes on the continent,in games during the tourney,as well as influence therein,one would have thought that Obi will just nip it.
CAF should come clean on the exact bases on which the POTY award lay.This call year after year has been made by pundits and supporters alike but nothing appears to be coming forth,leaving some of us in sixes and sevens about the whole relevance and credibility of the confederation and it's awards.
The awards gala held in Lagos,Nigeria though,was well organized,well attended and well coordinated .Not too many fanciful things,just the simple things done well.I am sure those who were supposed to have learnt a thing or two from the event did................congrats Yaya.
Kingsley Adom Komla
Ghana Institute of Journalism
kingsleykomla@gmail.com
10th January,2014.
Nice write-up. Keep it up
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