Former Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has spoken about Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

The Super Eagles failed to get past West African rivals Ghana in the playoffs in March.

The three-time African champions drew 1-1 on home soil, after a goalless draw in Kumasi.

Mikel Obi, in an interview with This Day, said during his time with the team, the players were motivated and only listened to one voice.

“It was really painful that we did not qualify because it’s been a long time, we experienced non qualification (Germany 2006 finals).

“It was strange and felt really sad because I can’t imagine watching the FIFA World Cup without Nigeria and it’s even more painful to lose the chance of qualification at home. It is strange and I just hope we have learnt some lessons by looking forward to the next four years.

“I remembered the last edition in Russia when we even qualified with almost three matches to the end of the qualifying round of matches. We were motivated, we had a direction on the pitch we had a leader on the pitch.

“All the 11 players were listening to only one man on the pitch not many leaders in the pitch. We need a leader on the pitch for others to follow. You don’t need five leaders but just one because when you have four or five people giving instructions on the pitch that it not a unit,” he said.

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