{"id":9656,"date":"2019-05-05T16:11:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T16:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/nigeria\/?p=9656"},"modified":"2019-05-05T16:11:42","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T16:11:42","slug":"john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win","title":{"rendered":"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win"},"content":{"rendered":"
Efforts from the two African stars were not enough to secure a playoff spot for the Boro on Sunday<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Nigeria<\/a>‘s John Obi Mikel scored his first Championship goal and DR Congo’s Britt Assombalonga was also on target as\u00a0Middlesbrough<\/a>\u00a0defeated\u00a0Rotherham<\/a>United 2-1 in Sunday’s Championship fixture.<\/p>\n

Despite the victory at\u00a0AESSEAL New York Stadium, Tony Pulis’ men finished the 2018-19 season in\u00a0seventh spot, a point adrift of the Championship playoff zone.<\/p>\n

Assombalonga opened the scoring for Middlesbrough from the penalty spot in the 28th minute, and stretched his tally to 14 goals in 42 league outings this term.<\/p>\n

Nine minutes later, Mikel – who captained the visitors – doubled the lead by rifling his left-footed shot into the roof of the net.<\/p>\n

The effort was the Nigeria international’s first goal since he returned to England as a free agent in January. It was also his second goal in English league football after 267 appearances.<\/p>\n

Article continues below
\n2 – John Obi Mikel has scored just his second goal in English league football (267th appearance), and first in 5 years 226 days for Chelsea against Fulham in September 2013. Awaited. pic.twitter.com\/8HcszR4rVj<\/p>\n

\u2014 OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 5, 2019
\nOn the international scene, Mikel has not played for Nigeria since their group stage exit from the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia but he is expected to be part of Gernot Rohr’s squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.<\/p>\n

The Super Eagles have been drawn into Group B against Madagascar, Guinea and Burundi.<\/p>\n

Assombalonga’s DR Congo also qualified for the continental showpiece in Egypt and they have placed in Group A against the host nation, Zimbabwe and Uganda.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Efforts from the two African stars were not enough to secure a playoff spot for the Boro on Sunday Nigeria‘s John Obi Mikel scored his first Championship goal and DR Congo’s Britt Assombalonga was also on target as\u00a0Middlesbrough\u00a0defeated\u00a0RotherhamUnited 2-1 in Sunday’s Championship fixture. Despite the victory at\u00a0AESSEAL New York Stadium, Tony Pulis’ men finished the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":9657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[116,446,426,212],"class_list":["post-9656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-football","tag-obi-mikel","tag-players","tag-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Efforts from the two African stars were not enough to secure a playoff spot for the Boro on Sunday Nigeria‘s John Obi Mikel scored his first Championship goal and DR Congo’s Britt Assombalonga was also on target as\u00a0Middlesbrough\u00a0defeated\u00a0RotherhamUnited 2-1 in Sunday’s Championship fixture. Despite the victory at\u00a0AESSEAL New York Stadium, Tony Pulis’ men finished the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-05T16:11:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"alico\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"headline\":\"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-05T16:11:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win\"},\"wordCount\":288,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Football\",\"Obi mikel\",\"players\",\"Sport\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win\",\"name\":\"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-05T16:11:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\",\"name\":\"alico\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/alico\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win - Nigeria","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win","og_description":"Efforts from the two African stars were not enough to secure a playoff spot for the Boro on Sunday Nigeria‘s John Obi Mikel scored his first Championship goal and DR Congo’s Britt Assombalonga was also on target as\u00a0Middlesbrough\u00a0defeated\u00a0RotherhamUnited 2-1 in Sunday’s Championship fixture. Despite the victory at\u00a0AESSEAL New York Stadium, Tony Pulis’ men finished the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2019-05-05T16:11:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"alico","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"alico","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win"},"author":{"name":"alico","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7"},"headline":"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win","datePublished":"2019-05-05T16:11:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win"},"wordCount":288,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg","keywords":["Football","Obi mikel","players","Sport"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win","name":"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-05T16:11:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/05\/john-obi-mikel-middlesbrough_ncg4hbmg093c1cdgnr4o2jngt.jpg","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/john-obi-mikel-britt-assombalonga-score-as-middlesbrough-end-season-with-a-win#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"John Obi Mikel, Britt Assombalonga score as Middlesbrough end season with a win"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7","name":"alico","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/alico"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}