Dosu Fears For Ideye, Backs Uche

Dosu Joseph fears Brown Ideye’s goal drought for Dynamo Kyiv could cost him his place in Nigeria’s squad for this year’s World Cup in Brazil. But the Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games gold medallist believes in-form Villarreal striker Ikechukwu Uche has a chance of gate-crashing the World Cup squad following his consistent performances at the Spanish La Liga side. Ideye has only been on the scoresheet twice in 10 appearances for Dynamo Kyiv in the 18-week

old Ukrainian Premier League. The 25-year-old, who joined Dynamo Kyiv from French outfit Sochaux in the summer of 2011, was on the starting lineup twice and was introduced as a substitute eight times in the league, which is currently on break. Out-of-favour Nigeria forward Uche boasts 11 goals in 10 La Liga starts in the season, scoring five times in his last two matches for the Yellow Submarine. And former Super Eagles goalkeeper Dosu, who is thrilled with Uche’s newfound goalscoring prowess, expressed his concerns about Ideye’s form. “It’s unfortunate that Ideye has been having problems scoring goals for his club,” the former Julius Berger custodian told our correspondent on the telephone during the week. “He’s a good striker but he has to regain his goalscoring form. With other strikers banging goals in left, right and centre, he should know that he has to work harder to make the World Cup. “I believe he’ll make it because he’s a determined player.” He added, “I’m very happy that Uche is on top form and scoring goals regularly for Villarreal. (“Stephen) Keshi’s choice of players for the World Cup should be respected, but I think Uche deserves a chance to fight his way back into the team. “He brings a lot to the team when he is playing, and I think we should allow him take his goalscoring form to the World Cup. “Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses have done very well for us. But I believe Uche will break into the World Cup squad if given the opportunity to prove himself. “Probably Keshi decided to drop Uche for (Shola) Ameobi after his poor form at the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. “Ameobi is good. His height can intimidate any defender. It depends on how Keshi wants his strikers to play at the World Cup, I think we can accommodate all our top strikers. “In my opinion, Uche has done enough to deserve another opportunity to play for the Eagles.” Dosu is backing Mikel Obi to win the 2014 African Footballer of the Year award, saying his form for Nigeria and Chelsea has been “fantastic”. He said the Eagles midfielder should not be discouraged by last week’s crowning of Ivory Coast midfield sensation Yaya Toure as the 2013 African Footballer of Year, urging him to work harder. Dosu said, “Mikel and Yaya both deserved the award.But it was a competition in which one of them had to win. Mikel helped Nigeria win the Africa Cup of Nations and contributed to Chelsa’s success at the Europa League last year. He deserved the award but you can’t take it away from Yaya, who was also outstanding for his country and Manchester City last year. “Mikel is still young and he can win this year’s award if he works for it.”