Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa, has debunked insinuations that he has retired from national team football, Completesports.com reports
Musa insists that he never told anyone that he was calling it quits with international football, adding that if the coaches consider him good enough for an invite, he would always answer any call to serve his country
“I didn’t tell anyone that I am done with Super Eagles. I said I might consider retiring after the World Cup if Nigeria had qualified. The new coach has called me to come and play in the AFCON qualifiers and I cannot say no to him because it is a call to serve my country,” Musa told Completesports.com in Abuja.
“AFCON is next year and I am still active playing in Turkey and if the coaches find me good to be at the AFCON in Ivory Coast, I will gladly go and help my country to win it. I will always honor invitation to serve my country and give my best.”
Also Read: ‘Peseiro Now Under Pressure To Win First Match As Eagles Coach – Vs Sierra Leone’ –Udeze
On the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Musa said we he owe Nigerians and the fans of Super Eagles apologies.
The former Kano Pillars winger stated:
“It is not easy to forget the exit in front of our home fans in Abuja. I still don’t believe we have played that match against Ghana and crashed out.
“It was painful experience and I and other players have yet to overcome the shock. But we have to move on. We shall try and restore the confidence our fans have in Super Eagles. I still don’t believe that Nigeria will not be at the World Cup.
“As part of the plans to restore the confidence Nigerians have in Super Eagles, we shall hopefully, Insha Allah, beat Sierra Leone on Thursday in Abuja and in subsequent games. We are not unmindful of the embarrassment that saw us drop a 4-1 lead to play 4-4 draw in Benin City two years ago
“They [Sierra Leone] have proven to be a good side judging from their performance in the last AFCON and we shall go all out to win. We won’t allow the mistake in Benin City to repeat itself,” Musa concluded.
By Richard Jideaka, Abuja
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COMMENTS
Ahmed Musa… We know you can still kick football. We just want you to give way after over ten (10) years… Since we don’t lack personnel on the wings anymore.
But your performances both for club and country respectively has been poor and on that ground shouldn’t get an invite ahead of better young and deserving prospects.
You knew your invitations weren’t on merit rather political and nepotism which you are disposed to.
The coaches wouldn’t invite you on fair grounds,due to how desperate you are just like your fellow shameless northern leaders have decided to cling on to power even when you are not relevant.
Typical Northerner
Ahmed Musa, sorry, but we the fans are saying its time for you to leave OUR Super Eagles.
You have obtained your century of caps – congratulations. Your the highest Nigerian goal scorer at the WC – congratulations. You were captain of the SE – congratulations.
You have served your nation well and now the time has come for you to GRACEFULLY bow out.
Your continued insistence on remaining means you are impeding the growth of the team. The team needs fresh talent that can offer something different to what you offered. Great leaders leave the stage when the applause is loudest. If you don’t understand what this means, we will make you understand.
Ahmed Musa, sorry, but we the fans are saying its time for you to leave OUR Super Eagles.
You have obtained your century of caps – congratulations. Your the highest Nigerian goal scorer at the WC – congratulations. You were captain of the SE – congratulations.
You have served your nation well and now the time has come for you to GRACEFULLY bow out.
Your continued insistence on remaining means you are impeding the growth of the team. The team needs fresh talent that can offer something different to what you offered. Great leaders leave the stage when the applause is loudest.
If you don’t understand what this means, we the fans will make you understand.
Words can not express my disappointment with Musa. Thank God the internet doesn’t forget, this was Musa’s response to him retiring ” I think this is my last AFCON in Shaa Allah. I have spoken to the boys that this is the only gift you can give to me. Because this is my last AFCON and the boys told me that they are ready”.
Yet he states that he did not tell anyone this was his last AFCON. Dishonest leadership .
Let all the SE fans at the stadium boo him whenever he is on the pitch with ball at his feet. Then he will realise we don’t want hin anymore. No be by force
Mr Islamist you’re done playing for Nigeria. You’re made choice go and enjoy ur wives, you’re becoming a bad influence on our players, as a skipper you’re not motivated, you’re very timid and clueless, the team needs a highly motivated, pumped up player as a skipper, we need a skipper that would instill confidence on our players. Thanks for ur services
### IRRELEVANT PLAYERS IN THE SUPER EAGLE ###
I want to used this medium to advice Coach PASEIRO to thrash away irrelevant players in Super eagle. Any players that can not be 90% relevant on the field of play SHOULD NOT BE INVITED to Super eagle team again. Because their inclusion are:
** 1) SURPLUS TO REQUIREMENTS
** 2) creating SHORT-ONE into the team
** 3) BLOCKING THE CHANCES of other players that want to sign.
AHMED MUSA IS VERY GOOD EXAMPLE OF IRRELEVANT PLAYER. HE IS CREATING SHORT-ONE INTO THE TEAM, BLOCKING THE CHANCES OF OTHER PLAYERS
Welcome back Musa, Captain fantastic. I agree with u that ur days are not over yet. More blessings upon u and other players.
I “THINK” this is my LAST AFCON. is different from when one CONFIDENTLY say “This is or this will be my LAST AFCON”
CAPITOL you are WELCOME BACK.
PERIOD!!!
LMFAO!
OGA I am not a GHANIAN for the ONE MILLION TIME..
I will ignore your INSULTS and CHILDISH TANTRUMS thou…
It shows how MATURE I am compare to you…
LMFAO!!
@MONKEY POST Shut up dere!! ODE!!! the one who wants nothing good for Nigeria. It is no suprise to me that you are the only one in favour of Ahmed Musa continued stay in Super Eagles even though a blind man can see that this man adds nothing to SE.. Anumanu
We should give him credits for still giving his all to the eagles, there are others who never did this so why criticize him ? He respects the badge and also it’s not all about young blood, experience is also needed in a game .. look at Germany, they still use Thomas muller because of his experience so that upcoming could learn from him , he is experienced and I believe the young ones would learn from him .. he has good records
Not a very apt example bro, Muller plays for fc Bayern. There is a big difference. If Musa is still holding his jersey down at a top club like Bayern and playing in a top 5 league, I doubt if any sane and rational person will push for his retirement . He doesn’t hold a 1st team shirt in a Turkish league in an obscure club with a name that one can not pronounce but he is picked consistently in the SE. He is there because the leadership of the NFF seeing the posture of the incumbent govt regarding tribal agenda are simply playing their cards well. How do you explain playing a clubless musa in a qualifier ahead of active players playing in competitive leagues? How do you build a legacy of success from an illegal foundation. It is still evident we did not learn a single thing from the wc ouster, history is a very good teacher and we would be schooled again. Where there is merit, should musa be ahead in the pecking order of players like Awoniyi?
Chai, you are comparing Ahmed Musa to Thomas Muller? Luckily statistics are publicly available. Muller was playing in the starting 11 in 91% of the games last season, while Musa was in the starting 11 in 53% of the games.
Muller participated in an average of 75 minutes of the 90 minutes of all games last season while Musa participated in an average of 45 minutes of the 90 minutes of all games.
Thomas Muller participated through assists or goals on 30% of the goals scored by Bayern Munich while Ahmad Musa participated on only 9% of the goals scored by Karagümrük.
Ahmed Musa decided not to turn up for the friendlies against Mexico and Ecuador. This was an opportunity for Musa to show fans that he still has what it takes because he would definitely have started the match before home-based players and as captain, he should have shown leadership.
Instead, he decided by his absence to copy Osimhen a player who is so expensive that Nigeria has to be careful when to use him. Musa is so entitled he doesn’t feel he should fight for a starting place in the super eagles, he’s happy to be a squad player captain.
The coaches are only inviting him for political optics because Pinnick revealed in an interview that he insisted on Rohr inviting Ahmed Musa to the SE squad. Pinnick does this to bolster his position with northern support. Eguavoen with his subservience to political appointees could not remove him, and now he’s being forced on the new coach.
Musa, you are passing through a phase that is not in any way peculiar to you: be bold and deal with it. You are clearly having diminishing returns. You have achieved them all. Why stick around and be subjected to attacks and be pushed around? Is this not greed and selfishness?
At worst you can press buttons and be replaced by a candidate of your choice? Leave now honourably.
Sorry, KangA
The coaches must be crazy to invite him and Dennis leaving great players like ihenacho y awoniyi . This 2 players and victor are the best fowards we have. No wonder we never win dames theses coaches must be out of their minds
Nigerians should take it easy on musa.. He played majority of the games last season for his club.. We don’t have too many Wingers better than him.. List them if you can , we know you will call ejuke, he is just full of dribbling without end product, olayinka, let him move to a better league.. If we are sincere with ourselves all the Best wingers were invited and there was still space for a musa so free him.. He has experience that you don’t buy in the market
Experience is for defenders and midfielders, forwards have to have intensity and a high work rate. Most forwards are the youngest players in a team because youthful energy and drive are required in the attack.
Ahmed Musa is not even trying to get a starting shirt, if he was trying no one would be criticizing him. All he wants to do is appear for SE training, eat food and play for the last 15 minutes without even having an impact while holding the captain’s armband. It is about the status of being a SE player and captain for him, not about his playing contribution. We have never had a SE captain behave like this, the SE is not his restroom if he can’t contribute on the field he should leave.
We are not going to let him rest, if he wants to shut us up he should do it on the field, not from the bench.
You gave examples of Ejuke and Olayinka. What about the likes of Yira Sor, Samuel Kalu, Bright Osayi Samuel, Paul Mukairu. These are young players who need to be a part of the setup in order to blossom.
But old man Musa, with all his experience of sitting on the bench (as you put it), is blocking this opportunity with his selfishness.
There are at least SIX wingers better than him – Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze, Ademola Lookman, Simon Moses, Peter Olayinka and Emmanuel Dennis. All of whom are playing at a much higher level of competitive football than this old man can play.
But again, he refuses to leave the stage.
Lool!
So this guy Kanga, you cannot even spell your own name ? Chaii!
Ahmed Musa isn’t that old just 29 of age, why calling him old man beside he is our captain. Those of you saying that Musa isn’t active on club duties in Turkey, I don’t know what to tell you guys. I have watched him severally, Musa is an active player in club level. Stop criticism him, Musa is the best more better than most of our strikers and wingers will have today.
Awanoyi isn’t better than Musa, we don’t need a lazy and restless strikers, 2 matches at 2022 afcon shows that awoniyi isn’t eagles type of player we required. Scoring goals in club will not quarantine you as a better player in your country. When Musa was in Leicester he wasn’t that relevant in club level but he always gives his best while representing his country.
For dazzling Ejuke, I don’t really know how to describe this player, though Chidera Ejuke is good no disrespect but what has he contribute both in club side and for his country, Musa plays for Cska Moscow, he was the best scoring a goal against Barcelona at UEFA champions league. Musa remains our player, though his pace and speed his gone but he will become better for us one day.
His pace and speed which are his only qualities is gone and you are saying he would get better someday so are you insinuating the pace and speed he lost to old age will now come back to him in the future?Are you messing?
Which 29?
He supposedly was the NPFL top goal scorer with 18 goals in 2009 for Kano pillars, at the age of 16/17. That is complete BS and everyone knows it.
Dude is certainly not 29.
It is crystal clear that the romance between Ahmed Musa and a body of Super Eagles fans has gone awry. If truth be told though, even in his prime, Ahmed Musa was never a huge fan favourite, he has always divided opinions.
His saving grace was, is and will forever remain his extraterrestrial world cup goals that came straight out of planet-unexpected. I for one prefer the style of the following wingers/strikers compared to Musa: John Utaka, Olanrewaju Kayode, Imoh Ezekiel, Obinna Nsofor, Victor Moses and even Brown Ideye.
But, as silky and elegant as these ones were, they will never come close to Musa in the history books simply because of his world cup heroics against Argentina and Iceland.
Those Fabulous moments are however not good enough to attract unconditional loyalty: many Super Eagles fans are not giving Musa a reprieve. They want him to hang up his national team boot now.
But I have no problems with Musa being in the squad.
He still has his pace, arguably his only ever potent weapon. Musa has never been a prolific winger. He does score goals, beautiful ones at that; but they are few and far between and getting even fewer with age catching up with him.
Musa’s output in front of goal has steadily dwindled in recent times. He managed only 4 goals across 32 games in Turkey last season. In his last season in Saudi Arabia (2019/20), he scored the same 4 goals in 29 games. He didn’t even light up the Nigeria Professional Football League with goals after leaving Saudi Arabia.
For Nigeria, he has 16 goals in 102 outings – not the most lethal of our forwards.
But the current coaching adminstrative set up of the Super Eagles are still very much in favour of his continued invitation. Musa must have a healthy blend of charm and leadership skills to keep him in the good books of the NFF hierarchy.
There is also precedent for this sort of thing. Legendary Nwankwo Kanu continued to be invited as the Super Eagles captain way past his best. Over the hill Keshi and crocked Daniel Amokachi earned Super Eagles invitations for their past exploits rather than their present match-worthiness and fitness at the time.
Plus, some fans (however few) either retain affection for Musa or (like me) are not particularly bothered about his continued invitation.
From the looks of things, only 4 factors will lead to Musa exclusion from the team:
1) injury
2) Voluntary resignation
3) Massive fallout with the coach and NFF
4) Permanent inactivity in club football.
Unless any of the aforementioned happens, Musa will continue to be involved and invited to the Super Eagles; and his growing army of detractors will continue to complain.
After all, what else can they do?
Our ball Is not moving forward. A captain needs to lead from the front a captain needs to be one of if not the most talented players in the team.. when the going get tough he needs to rally the team. A captain need not be a bench warmer for club.. can you not see the Goverment is trying to give an undeserving norther the most caps in SE at all cost even to the detriment of football development and happiness of SE Fans. Chidera Ejuke’s trajectory is even similar to Musa and he is playing in CSKA Moscow a club where Musa played his best club ball. Yet Musa presence is hampering his development in the SE. We just got humiliated by Ghana yet we will still call this man a man who could not rally his team…
I will always say if Victor Moses Was wearing that Captains ArmBand and Ndidi not Injured Nigeria will be in Qatar today NO DOUBT About it. But what else can you expect from a Government who Bands basket ball a sport Nigeria still remains the best in Africa in because most names on the sheet are not Abdul and Mohammed and Musa NONSENSE!!!
LMFAO!
So they should FLOOD the LIST with only IFEOMA, IJEOMA and OBIANUJU, CHIOMA, NKECHI So as to PLEASE your TRIBALISTIC IDIOTIC MINDSET abi?
The OZOHO, AWAZIEM, CHUKWUEZE, OMERUO, ONYEKA, IWOBI that FLOODED the LIST, no one complain of TRIBAL SENTIMENT only you TRIBAL BIGOT…
FOOL!!!
A true leader of Men.. not this yeye Captain we get now
https://youtu.be/3B0a_4TBHIQ
This is a guy Enyeama who was still needed at this time but yet stepped aside for the better of the team. A true leader.
Come to think of it, he is just 29 years old. Abge lets leave him alone. He is still within playing age. Let those getting to 40 retire