Essien , Kwadwo Asamoah, Kevin in the race for CAF footballer of the year

The dearth of talented and performing Nigerian footballers in the international scene has had another negative highlight with the release of the list of players short listed for the biggest African awards of the year, the Glo-CAF Awards with only one Super Eagles player in the 17-man list. The one man standing for the country is Premiership’s newest Nigerian boy, Obinna Nsofor.

Nsofor, who is at West Ham United on loan from Inter Milan of Italy, has been one of the revelations of the season in England, together with his compatriot at West Bromwich Albion, Peter Osaze Odemwingie. Arguably the biggest Nigerian name in the game as at today, Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi, was obvious in his non-making of the final 17 despite all the hype surrounding his name; a phenomenon that more than confirmed the fact that international judges and arbiters see him more of a club player than an international one.

The last time a Nigerian won the continent’s biggest individual accolade was in 1999, when Nwankwo Kanu was picked as Africa’s top star. The 2010 list is dominated by players from Ghana and the Cote d’Ivoire. Chelsea ace Michael Essien leads the Ghanaian contingent that also includes Asamoah Gyan, Asamoah Kwadwo and Kevin-Prince Boateng while Didier Drogba is one of four Ivoriens that made it to the initial number of 17; the others being Salomon Kalou, Gervinho and Kolo Toure. The other nominees are Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Madjid Bougherra (Algeria), Steven Pienaar (South Africa), Mohamed Zidan (Egypt), Frederic Kanoute, Seydou Keita (Mali), Marouane Chamakh (Morocco) and Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo). The list will be pruned later in the year.