World Cup players are dropping like flies at the moment. Next on the list of players that were, but will no longer be playing in the World Cup is Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel who has withdrawn from the squad.

The Chelsea midfielder has been struggling with a knee injury and rather than risk his club career by playing, he decided to pull out of the Nigeria squad and make sure his knee is better for next season.

"We have dropped Mikel from the World Cup after he told the team he did not want to put his career at risk as his knee injury has yet to fully heal after a recent surgery," team co-ordinator, Emmanuel Attah, told www.mtnfootball.com.

Mikel was rested in the game against Colombia over the weekend and the Swedish coach Lars Lagerback explained "there was nothing wrong, but it was just a precaution".

The player did train with the squad yesterday in Durban but it appears the knee didn't full react the way he would have liked.

Attah also confirmed that officials from the Nigerian camp are currently meeting to decide on a replacement - which must come from the seven players axed by Lagerback who were part of the preliminarily squad.