Former
Super Eagles midfielder, Edema Fuludu, believes the national team will
not miss the services of captain Joseph Yobo at the 2013 FIFA
Confederations Cup in Brazil, which begins on June 15.
The Fenerbahce defender had a bust-up
with coach Stephen Keshi after the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations victory,
after he was excluded for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Kenya in
Calabar. He was again left out of the squad for the Confederations Cup.
Fuludu, Keshi’s teammate when Nigeria
won the Nations Cup in 1994, has backed the decision to drop the
32-year-old Yobo, the country’s most capped international.
He said, “Yobo was getting slow and I
think Keshi is looking for the average age of players who have the
capacity to absolve the intensity of games at that level. You have to be
younger and that is what is obtainable currently in football. I don’t
expect anybody to query why Yobo is not in the team.
“Sincerely at the 2013 AFCON and even
before then, we realised that he was getting slow. For me, he has had it
good and well at the national level and if he doesn’t make the team
again, it’s okay. It’s clear that if you don’t leave football, it leaves
you.
