Ahmed Musa has not played an official game for a club since October when he played for Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr, yet he has been picked by the Super Eagles for forthcoming AFCON qualifiers against Benin and Lesotho.
The Super Eagles could not have picked himself for these games, that’s the job of the coach, but he could show the class that is expected of a leader by opting out for a more deserving player to take his place.
Gernot Rohr, a proud Franco-German who has had the honour of playing for a top club like Bayern Munich, has again let down his standards by picking an inactive player at the expense of others who have been doing well week in, week out at their clubs in Europe.
Rohr can do what he pleases as he does not have to account to a non-functioning technical committee or the technical department.
The explanation that Ahmed Musa has been selected to serve as a source of inspiration for the rest of the team does not hold water as there is no greater motivation for one to represent his fatherland.
What Rohr has done in this Ahmed Musa case is set a bad example that runs counter to team discipline and standards.
Musa and Abdulahi in 2021??Nigeria and the politics. I’m never surprised. Moffi standby? Nah we don’t deserve anything nice. Nothing
— zariabay (@chuccofficial) March 9, 2021
1.
Musa if he was being considered (shouldn't have in the first place) should have been on standby, as a very very last resort.
Him in the squad ahead of Peter Olayinka, Terem Moffi and Henry Onyekuru is an insult to them.
@okparaonline on Rohr's decision to invite Ahmed Musa.— The Land & People (@deniyiclement) March 9, 2021
Amed Musa has no business on that list at least for now.
— Athlete of truth (@ikedinma) March 9, 2021
Ahmed Musa also does not need Herr Rohr or the Super Eagles to get a new club.
His impressive profile that includes goals at two World Cups is enough to do that for him without stirring unnecessary controversies, banter and ridicule.
That would have explained the long list of offers he rejected before he attempted to get his career back on track in the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion.
But you also have to go back to three years ago to when the Eagles captain last shone in the colours of the country.
Ahmed Musa has always been known for his blistering pace, but in recent games for Nigeria he appears to be a few gears below par and that hunger he showed as a youngster at Kano Pillars has long deserted him.
Is it now what Rohr wants to further expose?
It would be recalled that this was a player who showed great class when he was tricked into surrendering the Eagles captaincy to Mikel Obi in Kaduna in 2016.
Yet, he will go on to be handed back the captain’s armband of this same team.
It is therefore not asking too much of him to today ask that he be excused from the forthcoming games as he continues his search for a new club.
What then becomes of reaching the 100-cap milestone already accomplished by Joseph Yobo and Vincent Enyeama?
Ahmed Musa could still achieve this as long as he is playing club football again, but first he should show the class of a leader that the proper thing be done at all times.
