Emenike Hit Out At NFF Over Yobo Testimonial Match
Emmanuel Emenike[/caption]
Former Super Eagles striker, Emmanuel Emenike, has hit out at the Nigeria Football federations (NFF) decision to fix an international friendly game on the same day as Joseph Yobo’s testimonial match.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will play a friendly game against the Les Aigles of Mali in France on May 27, the same day the ex-international’s testimonial will be played in Port Harcourt.
Emenike, who is set to feature alongside a host of Nigerian and international stars told africanFootball.com the decision of the NFF was an insult to the former skipper, even after the football body approved the match to retire the former player who served the country with 100 appearances.
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“If we are still on the same page of rebranding football, we should have the common sense of celebrating our heroes so that the younger ones in the team will live by example,” the West Ham forward said.
“Yobo deserves the honour and everybody has to turn up to celebrate him. But it’s unfortunate that it’s the NFF who are now looking like the obstacle to this testimonial.
“The Super Eagles players are the ones who want to play the Yobo match, tell me how will that be possible if they are in for another national assignment on that same day.
“We should change our mentality of ‘use and dump’ approach in order to reach greater heights of football in the world.”
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Yobo began his career at non-league Michelin FC in Port Harcourt, before leaving for Standard Liege in Belgium. He went on to play for Marseille, Everton, Fenerbahce and Norwich and captained Nigeria to African Nations Cup success in 2013.
He retired from international football after the Super Eagles’ 2-0 loss to France in the second round of the 2014 World Cup, which was his 100th appearance for Nigeria.
