Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa, has assured that his current clubless status will not prevent him from turning out greatly for the national team in the upcoming two-legged 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games against Sierra Leone, Completesports.com reports.
Musa is ambitious to lead the Eagles to bag two victories against the Leone Stars – in Benin City on Friday, November 13 and in Freetown next week Tuesday.
Speaking when he visited the Flying Eagles during their training session at the Goal Project pitch of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja on Monday, Musa said the two games are very important for the Super Eagles qualification
“It is true we don’t know much of the Sierra Leone national team, but we have resolved to play our best game to beat them at our home and away. Two victories over them will give us the ticket to AFCON, so we won’t joke with the games,” said Musa who is expected to arrive at the Super Eagles’ Benin City camp on Tuesday.
Also Read: Yobo: Four Points Against Sierra Leone Enough To Qualify Eagles For 2021 AFCON
“Playing without our ever supportive fans at the newly refurbished Samuel Ogbemudia stadium will not affect our games both in Benin City and Freetown. It’s quite a pity that Edo fans will miss the opportunity of seeing us play live because of the pandemic but we shall try to win for them,” he stated.
Asked if his lack of a club won’t affect his performance in the match, Musa said: ” though I have parted ways with my club in Saudi Arabia [Al Nassr] , I trained with them until I came down for this game. I am still myself and I will give my best on Friday”
“I will soon reveal my new club as soon as all the necessary details are completed. I hope to return to Europe as soon as possible” Musa concluded
By Richard Jideaka, Abuja
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COMMENTS
I have said it before n will say it again if players selection is based on merit Musa has no business with the team he is clubles
@kk…let me ask you a question- if Messi cancel his contract with Barcelona this week and turn clubless, and there’s a national match next week, as a coach would you invite him? (based on your theory of merit)
@Kingston, good talk but not only that u can’t compare a player like Musa to Messi, Musa hasn’t played competitive football for months now with the exception of the friendlies the SE played in October. Guys be honest, if the criterion for selecting players is club form then Musa doesn’t even meet the requirement to be on the standby list. Why waste the spot when you have other players like even Olayinka playing more regularly. Its GR’s choice who he picks but his selecting Musa can’t be justified atleast based on playing in a top league or club form. We can say maybe for experience, which is ok but not on merit. Yeah he assisted in our goal and created the penalty but that was all he did. We can say those are big contributions but what are other players going to say.I play regularly for my club but I don’t get called, however someone who has been clubless for some time just strolls into the main squad not even standby list. If I were a player, I would say there is something fishy going on. Even if Musa goes on to score in the match which is very possible, what kind of message is the team coaches and NFF are sending is what most of us questioning his call up saying, not whether Musa is not good as on a good day he COULD deliver. Personally I don’t have a problem with Musa by the way. Ultimately, GR has the final say of whom to prosecute the game, asa SE fan, all I can do is support the team. Just my take.
Musa played in his clubs first 2 League games after the international window. He has stopped playing not for footballing reasons but for contractual reasons and his own desire to leave the petrol dollars in Saudi and move back to the more competitive Europe. He has paid his dues and proved time sand over again as one of few who have the capacity to I clients games for the SE. Musa’s class and influence at international level is one which any of these greenhorns cannot offer and one which any SE coach cannot ignore. No point debating..lolz…. his last match is a testament
Musa has done more than enough in projecting the image of Nigerian football positively, so he deserves to be there. Club or no club.
In that case let us bring back Mikel Obi he will add more value than Musa. Also while we are at it let’s bring back JJ oKocha and Nwankwo Kanu as well as Sunday Oliseh. Trust me I am sure they will add more value… double standards is too much on this Forum when it comes to clueless Ahmed Musa. That penalty was created by Iwobi’s dangerous cross in the box not Musa’s lack of control and balance
Merit is selecting the player that created the only goal your team scored and won the penalty for what should have been the 2nd goal in the last international window. Musa still featured in his club’s first 2 games after the last international window. He canceled his contract because he wants to make a forward move. He is not clubless for ability but for his own desire to move to Europe which he will soon. Enough of the ethnic hate on Ahmed Musa. Whoever wants to hate can continue hating because Musa is leading this SE to Qatar. So anybody wey wan nak in head for wall make he start from now
Musa has done well for Nigeria. He still played well in the last matches. Hopefully he will find a European club soon. Carry go.
@Igbekun Abo I know you are a very patriotic Nigerian in fact I have never heard you speak bad of any player or person in this forum maybe to a detriment to some degree. But if we are honest to ourselves Musa is the weakest link in the SE attack and is not playing at the required level of a Captain of the “so called” Giant of Africa football.
From a place of facts and sentiments aside, Age is not really on his side and he is looking for club at present and is not in demand.. If Musa was so highly revered he would not be waiting in hope for European clubs to come looking after he was forced quit his club, he should have been lured away by a top European club.
Did you not see how our wing play improved when he came off against Tunisia and Chidera was introduced, or are we to deny Chidera exposure because of Musa? , are we to deny other players development and exposure for Ahmed Musa?. Let me also ask you this do you Support Super Eagles or Ahmed Musa? because, if the former is your answer then, you should clearly see that based on Ahmed Musa current form and Clubless stature he is below the requirements for any National team in the top 40 standing of world football talkless of Top 30. And as you guys talk of Image of Nigerian Football what image does this give the Super Eagles that the captain is Clubless and was Surplus to requirements in a Mid Table Saudi Arabian Club. Thank you
@ Ugo, I am disappointed that this is coming from an erudite sports fan like you. Did you read what you wrote again before posting it? How can you say Musa that scored a goal and created a penalty is a weak link. and Ejuke that just dribbled and have nothing to show for it is the strong link. is 15minutes not enough for any good player to score? I know about one stricker (Name withheld) you guys are complaining about, though he plays week in week out for his. Why are guys complaining, when playing week in week out is the only criteria for inviting someone to play. the criteria for inviting someone should be delivery. Ahmed delivers. Let Ejuke deliver in this friend then we start thinking about your suggestion.
@sanitinno How far bros?, Happy Friday and Happy game day. I think I have responded enough to this matter regarding Ahmed Musa. Lets see after the game. I just hope people will be man enough to stop holding Super eagles Hostage regarding this Musa Matter after the double headers. Double standards regarding Musa is quite simply laughable. After the game or Games we will revisit the topic. Enjoy the game wishing Super Eagles all the best!
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Hahahaha….they want to shave our heads while we are asleep….it was iwobi’s cross that won a penalty….LMAO.
Abeg someone should pls help us tell Iwobi to help us win more penalties in our subsequent matches by simply wiping in crosses into the box. Our players don’t need to get on the end of the crosses or be fouled in the opponent’s penalty areas by the opponents……LMAO
Make haters kuku add that it was Sanusi’s throw in that assisted Iheanacho’s goal and not musa’s intelligent and delightful flick……LMAO
For me, no player should be invited to camp if they are not FIT and IN FORM. For Rohr to have invited him, he must be fit and in form. And an in form Musa is a dangerous player! Even if we say what he did to Argentina in 2014 is old news, a time when him and Messi where in competition with each other in the same game, both scoring twice, what about his superb performance against Iceland at the 2018 world cup? Two goals that were among the best goals in the entire competition? That first goal was a highly technical, high skilled ball control, before smashing it into the roof of the net. How about the second? The close control, the blistering pace to leave the defender and goalie in the dust before slotting into an open net? How about the assist against Cameroon in the 2019 Afcon, where he control chested the ball up for Ighalo to smash home a left footer?
How about his latest heroics in our last concluded friendlies?
Clubless or not, if Musa is fit and in form, Nigeria needs him. His problem is that he lacks consistency. Performance levels go up and down. When he plays bad, it can be awful. But when he gets it right and plays well, the guy is world class.
He may or may not start our games. That is Rohr’s decision to make. But if Rohr decides that he wants him in the team, that to me is not a crazy decision.
@Drey, wwll said but be honest, if you were the SE coach and your criterion for SE player selection was based solely on playing regularly, would you pick Musa.You would agree that even when Musa was playing his productivity for the team was dwindling. I understand your point regarding greenhorn, remember Musa was once a greenhorn b4 he established himself, others can also do the same. Here is Musa’s stats
Year Games Goals Assist
2018/2019 24 7 7
2019/2020 19 1 5
2020/2021 2 0 0
You can tell his stock has been dropping for awhile now. This is Saudi Pro league for crying out loud. How can he be experiencing that kind of decline in lowly Saudi Arabia. Remember he endured tge same fate in Leicester b4 moving to Russia. Drey u will agree that playing regularly sharpens your skills as a player. Training with a Saudi team is not training for a team in Europe, so there is no way he can be as match fit as a playing even on the bench for a team in Europe. Also the fact that he caused the penalty, that could easily had been someone else, watch the match again, u will see he miscontrolled the ball but got tripped. Am not taking anything away from him cos his run still gave him the chance to be in a place to earn the penalty, but be honest with his club stats, regardless whether he canceled his contract or not, would u invite him? I get am b4 no be property. His is aging too u know hence the decline. Am not his mom, so can’t rectify to his age but with the 9ja age factor we know he is older than his footballing age. All am saying is that the standard for team selection should be the same for all players. My take
Sorry for some of the typos, smartphone no smart at all
testify for rectify
SUPER EAGLES–GERNOT ROHR–AHMED MUSA–OTHER PLAYERS…
Pls if u aren’t satisfy with this arrangement, kindly shun all super eagles matches till when the arrangement is disorganised; i think that would probably be after 2022 WORLD CUP.
Or if u can’t shun our matches, just try & cope with us for the main time.
Moreso, if u can’t cope, & u can’t shun our future matches u can switch over to onother national team of ur choice.
I came to realise that most of u “HATERS” like singing the praise of EGYPTIAN & ALGERIAN NATIONAL TEAM…. Even claiming they are world beaters when we all know their tract record at world cup level that it’s nothing to write home about, so why not lend ur support to them at this point in time?
All this praise singing of EGYPT/ALGERIA is a clear evidence that the love u pple have been claiming to have for SE is just for selfish interest not actually from the heart, permit me to say “HYPOCRYTICAL LOVE”; Pls switch over to these 2 teams and allow us watch our ROHR-ASSEMBLED SUPER EAGLES in peace.
TANKIU
@UBFE I have reviewed your writing Patterns and Mannerisms and can see a very distinct similarity to that of Dr Drey just my take.
Anyways it’s a pleasure we will keep Supporting our Darling Super Eagles, not that we needed your permission @UBFE or @Dr Drey whomever you actually are.
Thanks bro
Musa is a good player no doubt, but common! this is sierra lone we are playing.base on where he plays and being club less, the logic thing is to ease him off the national team till he settles this club less woe..the message that is been passed with his invitation is that some players are untouchable.if criterion on inviting musa was based on experience, john ogu and onazi should have been invited especially now we are short in midfield.. Olayinka,maja are there for the taking based on current form which is active?.. My submission on this is that musa’s invitation is not justify merit wise..let us not cloud our thoughts with sentiment.. This is 2020 and not 2005
Oga @Di-Cardinal we’ve heard u….
Oga ROHR doesn’t need ur world best OLAYINKA for now… Till further notice….
Rohr and his coaching crew feels satisfy with the players they invited, kindly wait till after 2022 when your african quardiolas takes over the podium….
If u aren’t satify; u can join them in supporting and singing the praises of EGYPTIAN/ALGERIAN national teams…..
Tankiu….
Guys let me make it clear here I ve no problem with Musa infact i see him as one of d most committed SE players,but we naija tend to shy away from d truth out of ethnicity n the earlier we realized this d better for our country,But if u must know Musa inclusion presently is based on sentiment n not merit,u can say whatever you like but that’s d gospel truth though some days are like that,all this boils down to NFF and their greed,
@Ugo my brother nwanem.
It’s just that we are too open and transparent to the point that we can’t hide ourselves any longer.
We can’t hate, envy, habour bitterness against any soul.
It’s just in our DNA not hate, practice nepotism, racism, tribalism, ethnicity et all against our CREATOR’S image.
Just bear with us, it’s not our fault though, but the stuff we’re made of….
Just see the way we discover ourselves even in a forum like this!
Don’t ever expect me, @Drey, @Oakfield, @Sean, @Collin id, @Kingston, @Aphyllidegreat, @Emmanuel, @Ola et all the open & free mind people to accept or agree with ur sentimental/hateful ideology of discrediting, writting-off, disqualifying another man’s effort.
The good & sincere people that knows what the future holds cannever get blindfolded & join ur ban waggon of haters.
We’ve a future & knows what lies ahead.
We’ll one day (if not already) asurp a throne of leadership.
We’re aware of the law of “kamah”….
Hence we can’t meddle with your group of haters.
Why not just bear with us or possibly join us???
@UBFE… Really? Oboy look for your kind of blind supporters. @Kingston, @Collins id, and @Ola belong to our squad of objective and truth shooters here, I can see how hard you are trying to romance @Ugo Iwunze possibly to recruit. Guy, no lump those ones to where your alias and @Dr.Drey appear please… Thank you.
@UBFE We do not hate Ahmed Musa, I mean how could we? (taking into account his performance against Argentina and Iceland). We just Love the Super Eagles more and feel that no one player is bigger than a whole Nigeria. At the end of the day your beloved Ahmed Musa will hang up his boots one day, when that time comes, if we have been denying other players much needed international experience and development all this while for the sake of hoping that maybe, just Maybe one hopeful day Musa rediscovers his past glory days of 4 yrs ago then what benefit would we have actually done our national team by then?.
I mean it is not as if we are not blessed with talented wingers. If it was a case of a no brainer and Musa was our stand out winger then okay I will concede but, in this case on merit, talent and Quality Nigeria is blessed there are much more deserving players in the fringes as proved by Chidera Ejuke against Tunisia. I mean Lookman is not even in the fray yet but soon will. Even Though we still have more capable hands than Musa
Thanks bro I hope you see our logic if not I guess only time will paint the picture to you and your “so called” clique as you mentioned above. have a good day bro
They are beginning to twist your comment, that they don’t like Musa. For Christ sake where is that coming from. Many on here have said time without number, a player not playing in the top league in Europe doesn’t qualify to play for Eagles. So tell us how many on the team are playing in division 2 clubs and not top leagues in Europe. Now the excuse is he has experience
@Kazeem… Exactly the fairness across board that some of us here are saying should be applied always. We should never use glory days of yesteryears to push any player above another… for Musa the argument is that in the last two friendlies he played well and gave us edge… the question to then ask is did we do more than average in any of those friendlies? We did not even have a standout performer in both games… Nigeria should already be at the level of those countries where club situation and performance should be the first yardstick… If you are unattached, sort your club status and start playing before you get another look-in to join the group… Musa has had that situation for a while now not even playing much at club before he was allowed to walk from Saudi Arabia… Yet we started him in recent games, that’s bias because he is not the only one who could start in his position. Everybody knows Musa is good but that does not substitute the need to deal objectively and honestly with players who should be starting. So because he is good, if he is not playing anywhere at the moment we should continue to oblige him starting Jersey ahead of those playing regularly at their clubs in same position? I think that’s bias period!
@Kazeem and @Jimmyball. I salute you two for speaking the truth of fairness.
Don’t get me wrong if Musa rediscovers his form I will be the first to clamour for him as I want the best legs representing My country but, for now he is not amongst the best legs in his position and, should be man enough to step aside until he regains form and reckoning. Super Eagles is not his birth right Just my take.