Joey Is Having A Laugh!

Nigeria Captain Joey Yobo knows why his national team has repeatedly failed to excel since their glory days of the 90's.

Besides being the captain, Joey is considered as essential to the Super Eagles because of his versatility on the pitch and his experience. Despite joining the team in 2001 and being the most capped player in the Eagles with 87 appearances, he has yet to win a title.

Joey said: 'I'm not satisfied as a national team player because being the most capped player without a trophy for over a decade is absolutely disappointing.'

'I had been very close to winning the Africa Cup Nations but we always crash in the semi-finals. Hopefully, that will change and we'll go to South Africa to win the 2013 edition.'

'I was at my lowest when Nigeria did not qualify for the 2012 Nations Cup. I though of quitting because I worked so hard in the team, even scoring goals, but on the last day we did not qualify. It was a big blow for me as the captain of the Super Eagles and a disappointment for Nigeria. It took me a long time to overcome the disappointment.'

'If you talk about football administration, I don't know anything about that. If you talk about coaching, I don't know either, because we have a competent coach who is Stephen Keshi.'

'It's not that we don't have the talent; it's not that we're not committed but we still need to do more. When a player gets an invite to be in the team, the first thing to do is to decide if he is coming or not. For a player to accept the invite it means he must come.'

'The problem with the Eagles is that there was no unity and discipline in the team. These are the reasons why Nigeria got so close to winning the Africa Cup of Nations on four occasions but ended up winning bronze. Those were not good enough for us. But I think the team is in the right direction this time. We have a coach who has seen it all and is doing the right thing in rebuilding the Eagles.'

'I've been in a system where things were so messed up, but things are not the same anymore. I want to win something; I want to leave discipline and integrity in the team when I bow out.'

'We've had opportunities to be great but we let ourselves down. We're learning from our mistakes and things are shaping up. At the last World Cup in South Africa, we could have gone as far as Ghana did but it didn't work out.'

'A few years back, I was not sharing rooms because I was considered a senior player at a time when Austin Okocha was the captain and Nwankwo Kanu was the assistant. When Samson Siasia became the coach he wanted me to share my room and he gave me his reasons. So for the sake of team work, I accepted. But the reason I didn't share my room was that I would not want any other player to be around when I discuss as a team captain with the FA or the coach. As the captain, the younger players might want to discuss with me in private so I would need a room of my own to have such meetings.'

'The home-based players have done creditably, they were impressive in the last match. You have to give the players some credit for a job well done. I'm not threatened by the performance of the defenders in the team; I'm a fighter and I like competition. Competitions bring out the best in me.'

'Egwuekwe and Oboabena have done very well in the team. I've played with them before, and they're going to get better with more games. Football is a competitive sport. We do it in our clubs, fighting for places. I think it is a good thing to have new and young players in the Eagles. But it is left for the coach to decide who makes the team. I think we need a blend of experienced and young players.'

'Everyone can't play at the same time, and I believe the coach is considering making some changes by adding one or two players before our next game. I think there are a few players that have the quality to be in the team but they have to merit the coach's invitation.'

'Moving to Fenerbahce was the best thing in my career. I joined them because I was eager to win silverware.  The 2011 Super Lig title and the Turkish Cup justified that. I hope my permanent move to Fenerbahce is concluded soon.'

'In my career I've never been so nervous - I'm not a nervous player - but being in Turkey, fighting for the championship was the most difficult point in my career.'

'In every game I was nervous because we knew if we made any slight mistake we might lose the chance to win the title. It was really a tense period. In the last game we played , I scored the winner but about a minute before the end of the game a shot from the opponents hit the post. If we had drawn the game there would have been no title.'

'The Turkish league is more technical than the Premier League. The Premier League is more physical and most popular in the world, but after playing for seven years in England, I think the Turkish league is of a better quality.'

Turkish league a better quality than the Premiership?! Is Joey having a laugh?