Siasia settles for Mikel, Akpeyi as over-aged stars for Rio

AfricanFootball.com can exclusively reveal that Nigeria Olympic team coach Samson Siasia has finally settled for Chelsea star Mikel Obi and south Africa-based goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi as his over-aged players for the Rio Olympics.

An official told AfricanFootball.com: “Siasia will be going to Rio with only two over-aged players – Mikel and Akpeyi.”

Other over-aged players who made the provisional 35-man squad were Turkey-based defender Godfrey Oboabona and Watford striker Odion Ighalo.

It was gathered from sources close to the Nigeria Football Federation that Mikel and Akpeyi from South African PSL side Chippa United made the final 18-man squad list submitted by Siasia to the football federation during the week.

Mikel has been keen on featuring in this year’s Olympic football tournament after he missed out on Beijing 2008.

Siasia’s team face local team Charlton Battery at 8pm local time in Atlanta, which is  1 am Nigerian time Saturday.

The match will be played at the Silverbacks Stadium in Atlanta.