The sweet science of boxing is very much known for its many stories of comebacks - a former champion, either out of pocket or simply bored and missing the limelight and public adulation, comes out of retirement to fulfil some new expectations.
Football itself has had its own fair share of comebacks, none more notable than that of Cameroon's Roger Milla, who at 38 was called out of retirement by his country's president to go on to score four goals as the Indomitable Lions reached the last eight of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
The man who made famous the Makosa goal celebration also, at the ripe old age of 42, scored against Russia at the 1994 World Cup in the United States of America, making him the oldest player ever to find the back of the net at this level.
Nigerian football is replete with its own international comebacks - the likes of Christain Chukwu, Rashidi Yekini, Peter Rufai and Ben Iroha all returned to the Eagles fold with various degrees of success.
Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha has also flirted with retirement from the international scene.
He first announced he will no longer wear the green-white-green shirt after he skippered an experimental Nigerian team which crashed out in the very first round of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.
He would then be pressurised to return to the Super Eagles in time for the 2004 Nations Cup in Tunisia, where he emerged as one of the shinning lights of the tournament as Nigeria reached the semi-finals.
He again hung up his international football boots after the 2006 Nations Cup in Egypt, months after he had failed to lead the Eagles to the World Cup finals in Germany as an unfancied Angola beat Nigeria to the punch.
Since his bow, the Eagles have struggled and struggled for creativity in the middle of the park.
Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu is not willing to risk it and throw youngster Rabiu Ibrahim in at the deep end, while the likes of Christain Obodo, Kalu Uche, Wilson Oruma and even the now more defensive-minded Mikel have yet to assert themselves as the old-fashioned no.10 or playmaker.
In the team's last three World Cup qualifiers, the Eagles clearly missed a player like Okocha, who could dictate the pace of the game
as well as use his vision and dribbles to create chances for what on paper is one of the most feared strike forces in Africa.
In Maputo in March, strikers Ikechukwu Uche, Osaze Odemwingie, Obafemi Martins and Obinna Nsofor ran around the artificial pitch like some headless chickens, deprived of any service from the midfield.
In the home game against the Kenyans, not known for their midfield play, the Eagles engine-room again struggled so much so that it needed old war horse Nwankwo Kanu to get the Eagles flying again in the second half.
It is now very obvious that Mikel is not the new 'Jay Jay', and if at all he has to line up for Nigeria, it would be as a defensive midfielder, the role he now occupies with Chelsea.
Kalu Uche appeared to have settled in at central midfield in the previous round of the qualifiers, but as the competition has intensified in the final round, it looks like he is a lot happier playing a more offensive role than to carry the whole team as playmaker.
That may well explain why with his Spanish team, Almeria, he is played as a second striker.
'Jay Jay', on the other hand, is one of the top cheer leaders of the Eagles as a member of a Presidential Task Force mandated to ensure Nigeria's flag flies high at South Africa 2010.
In a recent interview, he told me that one of the happiest days of his life was the day he hung up his boots for good. But he also told me he still enjoys the occasional kickabout with friends.
Probably, it would be asking too much of his 35-year-old body to return for the crunch World Cup tie against Tunisia on September 6 in Abuja.
But who says that this crowd pleaser should not again be convinced to come back to star for the Eagles in time for next year's World Cup.
His boots have been too big for any of the younger pretenders to fill.
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