Ogenyi Onazi picks the hardest challenge of his career

Super Eagles midfield general Ogenyi Eddy Onazi has endured an eight-month injury layoff that has ruled him out of action for both club and country but is positive that the worst is over.

The 26-year-old is recuperating well from the difficult-to-take injury that kept him away from the Super Eagles team that won bronze medal at the recently concluded 2019 AFCON championships.

“I’m making good progress and I am coping very well mentally from the setback. As you know, injuries are part of football and sometimes it’s inevitable,” the former Lazio defensive midfielder disclosed in an interview with Sunday Punch.

“It is sad that it ruled me out of action this long but then, it is getting okay as I’m recovering very fast. I believe by the end of August, I should resume training with the rest of the squad.

“In fact, I should have resumed earlier with the squad but I had infection on my tendon which delayed my comeback a bit. It was strange again wearing shoes because that part of the leg became very sensitive due to the injury.

“These past eight months have been the hardest part of my football career so far.”

Onazi was an integral member of the 2013 AFCON-winning Super Eagles squad under the late coach Stephen Keshi but he missed out on the party to Egypt 2019 due to the unfortunate injury.

But the Trabzonspur midfielder is upbeat about his opportunities with the coach Gernot Rohr team once he overcomes his current setback.

“It was so painful missing out on the AFCON duty because if I wasn’t injured, I would have made the squad,” Onazi said.

“We lost in the semi-finals to Algeria and that was a game I felt we could have won but that’s football. I believe we had a team that could have won the tournament but unfortunately we did not.

“Nonetheless, we finished with a bronze. So congratulations to the boys for their effort. We will be better in the next edition.”