I won't sanction Mikel - Keshi

SUPER Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi might have swallowed his pride following his decision not to sanction John Mikel Obi over his latter's inability to honour the national team's international friendlies against Botswana and Zambia claiming to be injured.The midfielder went ahead to feature for the Blues last Sunday in the English Premier League game against Liverpool but Keshi, said there would be no sanction for him, having earlier said he would be disappointed in Mikel if he played for his side.Many Nigerians had expected that the former coach of Togo should punish him for feigning injury, as they wondered how a player who claimed injury few days ago could be fit again and feature in a competitive game."This attitude is wrong and should not be accepted by the coach. What if all players claimed to have injury and later played for their respective clubs, what will happen to the Super Eagles' But then the coach has the right to take any decision but he should not pamper any player,'' said a top football administrator who pleaded not to be mentioned.Mikel reported to the Super Eagles camp during the international break, but excused himself from the two games due to back problems.After the second game, Keshi made it clear that he would be disappointed if the midfielder played for Chelsea."Of course I'm disappointed that Mikel failed to play for Nigeria but I will not sanction him, why should I do that'"He had a medical report that showed he had a back trouble and could not play. We wanted to keep him away from the Benin game which was on artificial turf and play him in Kaduna, but that was not possible," he said.
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