John Obi Mikel: Poor Nigeria ending does not damage legendary status

The Super Eagles captain has called time on his international career in inauspicious circumstances, but that does not detract from his legacy

As Nigerian football came out of its golden age in the latter part of the noughties, the larger-than-life personalities that had defined that era began to recede.

On the one hand, it meant reports of indiscipline and wilful indulgence became rarer; on the other, there were fewer polarizing figures and, as such, fewer players capable of provoking any kind of strong emotion in the minds of the public.

In that sense, John Obi Mikel is both distinct and a throwback, in that he is one of the few Nigerian footballers of the last 10 years able to elicit an…