John
Mikel Obi ruled out
5 June 10 10:01 GMT
Nigeria midfielder John Mikel
Obi has been ruled out of the
2010 World Cup in South Africa
with a knee injury.
Mikel joins fellow Chelsea stars
Michael Essien and Michael
Ballack in missing out through
injury, while Didier Drogba is a
major doubt.
The 23-year-old underwent
minor knee surgery in May and
feels he has not recovered
sufficiently.
"We have dropped Mikel from
the squad after he said he did
not want to risk his career," said
a Nigeria spokesman.
Nigeria will replace Obi Mikel
with the uncapped Brown Ideye,
a striker from French club
Sochaux.
Mikel has been capped 30 times
for his country and was the last
player to join up with the rest of
the squad at their training camp
in Essex.
In South Africa, Mikel cut short
his workout with the team on
two consecutive days. He also
missed the team's two build-up
games against Saudi Arabia and
Colombia.
On Friday he trained with the
rest of the squad for the first
time since they arrived at their
World Cup base in Durban, but
later announced he was not fit
enough to play in South Africa.
Nigeria have been drawn in
Group B alongside two-time
world champions Argentina,
former European Championship
winners Greece and 2002 World
Cup semi-finalists South Korea.
They play a final friendly against
North Korea in Johannesburg on
Sunday before starting their
World Cup campaign against
Argentina on 12 June.


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