By Tyne-Talk
January 29 2008

Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins will remain on International Duty after Nigeria forced their way into the final 8 of the competition. Goals by Chelsea player John Obi Mikel in the 52nd minute and Everton's Yakubu in the 85th minute against opponents Benin secured the teams 4th point from the group and a place in the quarterfinals.

Nigeria who is rated as Africa's #1 team by FIFA now play Ghana in an attempt to progress further, however they only managed to take 1 point from previous games against the Ivory Coast and Mali, had they have been eliminated in the 1st round it would have been for the 1st time in 30 years.

Martins who has been missing from the Newcastle squad for several weeks after travelling to Nigeria well in advance of their first match and also ahead of many other Premier League players, missed out on his team's first win in the competition after losing his place to Portsmouth's John Utaka.

Newcastle's first team coach Steve Round, today confirmed that the coaches and scouts are watching the ACN with great interest for the talent that it is throwing up:

"We'll be monitoring the Nations Cup very closely,

There are specific players playing in the tournament, who are also playing in Europe and domestically in England, and we will keep an eye on them, target them, get them into our radar and keep progressively looking at them over the course of the next few months."

Newcastle also have Beye, Faye (Senegal) and Geremi (Cameroon) playing in the cup. Senegal lost 3-1 to Angola on the 27th January, but face South Africa on Thursday, while Cameroon face Sudan tomorrow.

African Cup of Nations: Oba Through To Last 8

Discussion started by TyneTalk (IP Logged), 29/01/2008 19:58

TyneTalk
29/01/2008 19:58

African Cup of Nations: Oba Through To Last 8

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tunyc
29/01/2008 19:59

Lost his place to John Utaka?

Well I hope he plays as little as possible and that Ghana send Nigeria packing. We need Oba.

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toonlad 38
29/01/2008 20:01

that will be tough for Nigeria against the host country. Come on Ghana do us a favour please ha ha

.

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MissC
29/01/2008 20:03

Yup

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CNDShearerFan16
29/01/2008 20:09

If Nigeria aren't using him we certainly could They can send him back any time they'd like.

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nathan robinson
29/01/2008 20:25

If they lose he'll be back in about a week right?

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MissC
29/01/2008 20:31

Game isnt until 1st week of Feb - maybe this weekend?

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faheemusa
30/01/2008 18:21

they play ghana this sunday, so hopefully he will be back in time for the villa game

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