Super Eagles skipper Joseph Yobo has admitted it still hurts that he is? yet to win anything with the team even as he is set to match the 86 cap all-time Nigeria record for international appearances today.
?
?
The all-time record is jointly held by two former international skippers, Nwankwo Kanu and Muda Lawal.
?
The 31-year-old central defender won his 85th cap Saturday in the goalless draw with Botswana in Benin City.
?
And from his defensive position, the player who played as a striker for Nigeria at the 1999 FIFA U17 World Cup has netted seven goals for the country at full international level.
?
“I still want to win something with the national team before I quit,” insists the captain, who last season won his first major piece of silverware with Fenerbache even though that triumph is now tarnished by match-fixing allegations.
?
“Before we played against Cameroon at Tunisia 2004, ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha told us that one of the legacies he wanted to leave behind was to banish the fear of Cameroon in Nigeria football. We all saw the role he played that day.
?
“I also want to banish the bad memories of our recent failure. The burden is on me to also make sure things change for the better for the national team.”
?
His two World Cup appearances, in 2002 and 2010 ended in the first round, while he has collected four Nations Cup bronze medals – 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010.
?
Yobo has also represented Nigeria at U-20 and Olympic levels and his total commitment to the Nigeria cause was only recently rewarded when he was conferred with a national award by the federal government.?