THIRTEEN years after his strike caused heartbreak to Zimbabwe at the AFCON tournament in Egypt, Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel is expected to line up against the Warriors again this afternoon in an international friendly set for the Stephen Keshi Stadium.

The former Chelsea midfielder has been absent from national team assignments for the past year, but is back in the team’s fold.

Although the current crop of Warriors were not part of that squad which was booted out of the 2006 AFCON at the group stages, memories are still fresh in the fans’ mind as two quick goals in the second-half from Christian Obodo and then a youthful Mikel won it for Nigeria.

Zimbabwe were in the same group with Senegal and Ghana.
Interestingly, the two teams meet again as they fine-tune preparations for the tournament to be hosted in Egypt again. After the game, the two teams will leave together on Sunday for Egypt where they will be camped until the Nations Cup begin.

Zimbabwe travelled with a squad of 18 and the four players, who remained in Durban for the COSAFA Cup third place playoff, will fly straight to Egypt from South Africa tomorrow.

The national team arrived yesterday in the Delta State after flying into Lagos on Thursday and completed the one-hour journey to Asaba by road.State media