Nigeria: How NPL Hotshot Akpabio Missed Team’s Cut

22 July 2011

Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have failed to score in three successive pre-World Cup matches thus far just as George Akpabio who leads the Nigeria Premier League goals race missed the team’s cut.

Akpabio has fired 14 goals in the NPL for relegation-threatened Plateau United and was set for his Under-20 debut in a qualifying match against Guinea in Conakry but missed out because he could not secure an international passport.

“He has size and even though he struggled to measure up in training we were willing to give him more time to fight for a place in the team, but unfortunately when we needed him most, he was not available because he could not get his passport,” said Flying Eagles assistant coach, Samuel Abimbola.

“We even allowed him to return to Jos to ensure he gets his passport but in the end, he could not travel with the team to Guinea because the document was not ready.

“This is what he will not only need to leave the country, but it also serves as a playing license.”

As they say, the rest is now history as Akpabio has since gone on to shoot to the top of the goals’ chart in the NPL with a tally only four of the all-time record set by Ahmed Musa last season.

His goals have already earned him trials at top Norwegian club Viking just as Flying Eagles coach John Obuh continues to worry his head over his team’s goals’ drought ahead of the U20 World Cup in Colombia.

AllAfrica – All the Time