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John Obi Mikel may not feature in Wednesday’s international
friendly against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone owing to the state of the
playing surface of the match venue, according to reports.

The Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, the venue for the game, has
an artificial playing surface, and that could be harmful for Mikel, who only
returned to club duties with Chelsea recently after undergoing surgery.

Mikel featured for Chelsea in Sunday’s hugely anticipated duel
against Liverpool, but according to a report on Kickoff.com, officials of the
Nigerian team have disclosed that Mikel, as well as his club’s medical crew,
have informed Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia that the midfielder would be
unable to train or play on the TBS playing surface owing to his recent injury.

The Nigerian suffered a knee injury after a late challenge by
Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie back in December and was out of action for about
four weeks.

Pros and cons

Artificial turfs are more likely to cause injuries than natural
turfs, and in the case of Mikel, his doctors say they could cause his knee to
swell.

Also, some artificial surfaces cause burns or abrasions on skin
surfaces while most tend to be much hotter than natural grass when exposed to
the sun.

Exposure to the sun is not expected to be a problem on Wednesday
as the game is billed to kickoff at 7pm local time.

More so, in recent years, artificial playing surfaces using sand
or rubber infill, such as the ones situated at TBS, as well as at the nearby
training pitch of the National Stadium, have been developed and are generally
regarded as being about as safe to play on as natural grass.

Siasia arrives

While Mikel’s participation is in doubt, the match will be the
first game the Super Eagles will play under Siasia who flew into Lagos last
night in the company of all his coaching assistants except Salisu Abubakar.

Abubakar remained behind in Abuja to oversee Monday and
Tuesday’s training sessions of the home-based members of the Super Eagles ahead
of their upcoming international engagement in the United States before hitting
Lagos on match day.

Also expected last night were the duo of Peter Utaka and Ahmed
Musa who were both on target for their respective European clubs.

Osaze Odemwingie, who was in the West Brom side which suffered a 3-0 loss to
Manchester City on Saturday, was also expected last night, with the remainder
of the invited players expected to come in today, including Victor Anichebe.
Anichebe replaces the injured Shola Ameobi, while Inter Milan’s Joel Obi, takes
the place of Ikechukwu Ibenegbu who is also injured.