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Nigeria: Martins Injured, Doubtful for Austria
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This Day (Lagos)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Olawale Ajimotokan
Lagos
Obafemi Martins has become a big doubt to file out for the Super Eagles against Austria in Graz on May 27 after banging his knee during a workout with Newcastle United.
Depending on the severity of the injury the prospect of the former Inter Milan striker featuring in a string of Nations Cup and World Cup qualifying matches which the Eagles will play next month is not looking promising. The latest knock, according to reports from England yesterday, was the reason why the pint sized striker was excluded from the Newcastle United squad that lost the end of the season fixture at Everton by 3-1 by manager Kevin Keegan.
Martins reportedly hobbled out of the training session after the latest injury prompting the Magpies boss to drop him from the team that travelled to the Merseyside for the match against the Toffeemen. While the seriousness of the injury is not clear, it would however, jolt Eagles coach Shaibu Amodu who is aiming to have to have a full camp of players for the friendly against Austria. However, the coincidence of the prevailing situation also makes it too good to believe considering that Martins had before now sought permission of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) to rest his knee after a rigourous and long English football campaign. But the request was turned down by Amodu and other members of the Eagles coaching crew before the officials went to Portsmouth for a meeting with some of the national team players on Sunday. Amodu had before insisted that all invited players must honour the call up so that they can be formally introduced to the four-time coach to plot the future of the team.
The opinion of the coaches was that who ever has an injury should turn up at the national camp so that the seriousness of the claim could be verified by the team doctor.
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Martins had similarly nursed a knee injury during the Nations Cup in Ghana in February and was obviously not at his best as the Eagles displayed a huff and puff performance that climaxed with a quarter final loss to the hosts.
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