Ameobi Mourns After Scoring -Injury Puts Doubt On Eagles Return Bitter-sweet is the phrase to describe the dose of joy and sadness that hit recalled Super Eagles striker, Shola Ameobi, as he ended up suffering a fresh injury blight, just few minutes after scoring in a pre-season friendly with Newcastle United of England. The initial bolt of joy for Ameobi was that he had justified his inclusion in the Eagles’ squad of 20 players billed to battle South African in the Nelson Mandela Challenge on August 14, after nothing The Magpies’ first goal of their pre-season campaign on Saturday. Ameobi appeared to have responded to his Eagles recall when he scored in the 76th minute Newcastle’s consolation goal in a 3-1 loss to the former club of former Golden Eaglets invitee, Philip Chidi Onyemah, Portuguese side, Rio Ave. However, despite the goal, Kabba, Kogi State-born Ameobi is, ironically, not guaranteed a place with Newcastle’s regular squad for the coming EPL season, as reports persist that he may yet be sent out on loan before the new campaign starts on August 17. More woes followed Ameobi from the game, as he copped an injury that has put in doubt his chances of making a return to the Super Eagles for the August 14 international friendly against South Africa. The 31-year-old striker came off the bench to score for The Magpies, but was forced off the pitch after breaking his arm following a ferocious challenge from an opposing player, and left the stadium in bandages. Newcastle manager, Alan Pardew confirmed that Ameobi is likely to be ruled out of action for a s while, but said the extent of the injury will only be ascertained when the striker undergoes X-ray tests. “The most worrying thing to come out of the game is Shola. It looks like he’s hurt his arm and he’s going to have to go for an X-ray. We don’t know how bad it is. It’s not really a position where we can pick up problems,” Pardew told The Times.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:02:46 +0000