Essien explained why he is going to attend Kanu Testimonial game

CHELSEA’S midfielder Michael Essien says he will go the extra mile to support

Super Eagles’ former skipper, Nwankwo Kanu, in his endeavours because of the

respect he has for the Nigerian.

The Black Stars’ assistant skipper explained that he was giving up his holiday

to play in the testimonial for the former African Footballer of the Year because

“Kanu has not only been a good ambassador of African footballers in Europe, but

has also been an inspiration to me and other players both from the continent and

beyond.”

Essien admits that Kanu played a big part in his decision to accept the offer

from Chelsea when the club approached him six years ago, adding: “Apart from the

fact that Kanu had already made a name for himself while playing for Arsenal, he

took pains to explain why playing in England would be very beneficial to my

career.”

Essien was one of the players that sacrificed personal comfort to take part in

Kanu’s charity game three years ago. Barely 24 hours after playing a grueling FA

Cup final match against Manchester United at Wembley, the man nicknamed “Bison,”

then made the hour-long drive to the south coast of England to take part in the

charity match put together by Kanu for his heart foundation at Portsmouth.

To the amazement of many sitting in the Fratton Park stands, Essien, who helped

Chelsea beat United 1-0 at Wembley, then played another full 90 minutes in the

Portsmouth versus Kanu and Friends charity game. Essien, who is also dragging

his friend to Ghana next Wednesday to take part in his own charity game at the

Accra Stadium, also confirmed that he would be coming to Lagos with some other

key members of the Black Stars team, the only team from the continent that did

well at last year’s World Cup finals in South Africa.

Also expected to make the short flight from Accra with the midfielder are Sulley

Muntari and Asamoah Gyan. Meanwhile, the man who guided Nigeria to its greatest

triumph in world football, Jo Bonfrere, has sent word that he would be in the

country next month for the testimonial match.

Incidentally, Kanu was Bonfrere’s skipper when Nigeria became the first African

nation to win an Olympics football gold medal after beating Argentina in the

final of Atlanta’96 Olympics.

Also setting aside a few days of his holiday to be in Lagos for the June 11

testimonial is Senegalese football star, El Hadji Diouf. Diouf, who now plays

for Glasgow Rangers in Scotland, shot to international limelight when he helped

the Teranga Lions to shock the world at Korea/Japan 2002, where they reached the

quarter-finals in their very first appearance.