FIRST TEAM
02/04/2010

Obasi and Vorsah back in Hoffenheim

There are 40 degrees difference in temperature between Angola and snowy Zuzenhausen at the moment. Not the easiest of transitions for Chinedu Obasi and Isaac Vorsah as they returned from African Nations Cup duty on Wednesday and Thursday with their silver and bronze medals respectively.

Chinedu Obasi and Isaac Vorash were rivals at the African Nations Cup, but in Hoffenheim they are most definitely on the same team. Both returned to training on Thursday afternoon, with Obasi joining in the full session while Vorsah did a few laps of the pitch. The Ghanaian only returned to Hoffenheim on Thursday morning after an official reception in Accra and was visibly drained by all his international jet-setting. "The reception was very impressive. The people were really appreciative of what we've achieved over the past three weeks, but now I'm happy to be back with my team-mates," said Vorsah.

The African Nations Cup was an excellent experience for both players, particularly when the two 1899 stars went head-to-head in the semi-finals. Vorsah came out on top on that occasion, and it was to be the only time the two had contact with one another in Angola: "We get on well, but the German telephone numbers didn't work in Angola. We both had different numbers and didn't know each others," explained Obasi. Still, 'Edu' and Isaac both had plenty of time to talk about the game and exchange shirts in the dressing rooms after the match.

Nigeria's third-place finish was a great achievement, but there can be no doubting that the Ghanaian fans were even more delighted with their side's efforts in reaching the final. "The expectation levels in our country is very high and no-one really cares about us coming third. For me personally it was an important tournament as it was my first for the national team. It was a great experience to play with so many Nigerian stars," said Obasi. The pacey hitman got wind of 1899's flagging results in the Bundesliga while he was on Nigeria duty, though he insisted that there is no sense in dwelling on the past: "There are always good and bad phases in football. It's normal. We need to pull together and start winning games again. It doesn't matter what happened over the past few weeks. We're looking forward now and I'm sure we'll get back to winning ways against Hannover."

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