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.