Mikel snubbed in Tianjin draw

Super Eagles’ captain, John Obi Mikel was again left out of Tianjin Teda’s 18-man squad for Wednesday’s
Chinese Super League match against Tianjin Quanjian which ended 0-0.

Mikel who resumed full training with Tianjin last week after recovering from a knee injury he suffered
during the high-intensity match against CQ Dangdai Lifan on July 21 was not even named on the reserve
bench by manager Uli Stielike.

It appears the foreign quota rule rule introduced in the CSL is not favouring the Eagles captain from
getting playing time.

Since last week, Stielike has preffered to stick with Brazil’s Johnathan, Frank Acheampong of Ghana
and Germany international Felix Bastians Germany ahead of Mikel.

Mikel has missed five games since the resumption of the league, one as a result of an automatic
suspension due to accumulation of yellow cards.

According to the Chinese football governing body rules, each CSL team can only have a maximum of four foreign players in its squad, and a maximum of six foreign footballers for the season.  The rule further states that there should be no more than three foreigners on the pitch.