Former Chelsea star John Obi Mikel may be struggling for match fitness ahead of two crucial World Cup qualifiers against Cameroon in September.

The Nigeria number ten has been left out of the match day squad for Tianjin Teda's Chinese Super League clash against Chongqing Dangdai Lifan on Saturday, fueling speculation that he has not yet attained match fitness after surgery.

Mikel has not kicked a ball for his Chinese club since April 2 when he netted in Tianjin Teda's 2-0 win over today's opponents.

Assuming the defensive midfielder is handed a run out in all the matches before the World Cup qualifier versus the Indomitable Lions, he would have played only five matches in the last five months.

Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr is expected to announce his roster for the World Cup qualifiers before the next three weeks, and one player that is not in contention to make the list is Mikel's teammate Brown Ideye, who has been demoted to the reserves and has missed Tianjin Teda's last three matches.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel