Nigerian fans interested in betting, not Eagles – Musa

Ahmed Musa, the captain of the Super Eagles, gave a speech on Friday in Lagos at a ceremony to reveal the team’s motto, “Let’s Do It Again,” as they attempt to win a fourth AFCON championship in Ivory Coast the following year. “Here are some quotes from the speech provided by TANA AIYEJINA.

In the beginning

Working with my former teammates and captain Joseph Yobo as well as my former coaches Stephen Keshi, Daniel Amokachi, and Samson Siasia was a huge honor. I’d like to express my gratitude for all of their supportive remarks. Since I was the youngest player on the team when we were in camp, Yobo never wanted to stay with anyone else but me. I played for the U-23 and U-20 teams in addition to the Super Eagles at that time. In a month, I participated in games for the Super Eagles, U-20, and U-23 teams. I consider it an honor to wear the green and white jersey every time. I play to the best of my ability even when I only have two minutes left.

Even though my first home game lasted only five minutes in Calabar, it helped me stay with the Super Eagles until this day. I’ve been working so hard because of Yobo and most of my coaches’ encouraging words.

Pinnick’s role

Amaju Pinnick, the former president of the Nigerian Football Federation, recalled a time when he was not playing for Leicester City. Ahmed Musa needs to be invited to the team, no matter what, he told Eagles coach Gernot Rohr over the phone. And I participated in the 2018 World Cup, placing among the top players there. How come? Considering that Pinnick had faith in me.

He was the first to want to sign me to Warri Wolves back when I was playing for JUTH FC because he saw something in me from my time playing in Nigeria. I will express my gratitude, sir. Aisha Falode has also consistently encouraged us; she is not limited to women’s football. She constantly gives me motivation and provides the team with the moral support we require.

NPFL stars in Eagles

From the video that I just watched here, most of these Eagles players don’t stay in Nigeria.

In 2013 (AFCON), nobody believed in us. Before our game against Ivory Coast, our ticket to return back to Nigeria had already been booked because nobody believed that we could win.

We had seven home-based players in the team and five of them were starting. This happened because the former coach, late Stephen Keshi and Amokachi believed in the home-based players. I know this because I worked under him in the home-based team when I played for Kano Pillars.

We need to go back to that starting point again and have our local league.

I started from the local league and if nobody believed in me I won’t be where I am today. So, we have to return back to our local league because we have a lot of players there. What are they playing for if we don’t call them to the Super Eagles?

That will not encourage them because everyone will want to go to Europe. They believe Nigerian football is no longer lucrative but for me, you remember I rejoined Kano Pillars from Europe. If these players receive let’s say N500,000 (monthly salaries) they won’t think of leaving the local league because they have their families here. But over there (in Europe) most players stay alone, earn good salaries, listen to music and watch Netflix. The life there is boring with all the money.

Eagles vs Lesotho stalemate

The result against Lesotho was not what we wanted, but that is football, you either win, lose or draw.

And to the media, please, we have a young team. A lot of them cannot take that pressure. Why? Because whenever you are playing you’re thinking of the reaction you will get on social media after the game and most times I see a lot of insults like ‘Ahmed Musa should not play for the team again, he should retire.’

We have a lot of players who should not have retired from the team when they did but it was what the media reported that forced them out.

As you can see, we still need someone like Mikel Obi in the team, we still need Victor Moses. It’s not all about young players in the team because you need players to take them along, but right now we don’t have that.

Age issue

A lot of people have been saying, ‘oh Musa is old.’ No, I’m not. I started playing for the Super Eagles since I was 19 years, so, I’ve been here since and that is why everybody is thinking Musa has been in Eagles for long. Whenever I wear that jersey it’s a privilege and pride to me.

I love this country and I know whenever we lose, I have a family back home, I know the pressure they face when we lose. When we are on the pitch, they say ‘na him mother be this, go insult am (this is his mother, insult her). So, I know that I must put in everything I have so that people don’t insult my family.

Nowadays, with the players we have in the team, none of them stay in Nigeria. They don’t know that anger that most of us, who have families in Nigeria, face when the team loses.

Qatar debacle

I cried a lot when we didn’t qualify for the 2022 World Cup. I know what our former NFF president (Pinnick) did at that time. Players stayed in hotel rooms which cost about N500,000.

He did his best so that we qualified for the World Cup. We lost a lot of money and that is why most of our players right now are facing challenges because we failed to qualify for the World Cup. So, we as players lost so much money.

No matter where you are playing you always go down into your corner to think when you lose money. Nowadays I understand what football is and the anger of the fans. Most of us don’t support Super Eagles because we like them, they will say, ‘hey dem don cut my ticket, give me my money’ (hey they’ve spoilt my ticket, refund my money). You’ll see on most of our DMs ‘you cut my ticket, you no sabi play’ (you spoilt my ticket, you don’t know how to play), its because they are bettors. Before, you’ll see the love and passion for the team but nowadays, betting has spoilt everything.

So, please I am begging the media to please take it easy with these young boys, they can’t take too much pressure. That is why whenever they go onto the pitch to play they panic because they are thinking about what they are going to see on their accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

What do you think forced Odion Ighalo out of Eagles? They threatened to kill his family and he had to quit.

Why will you threaten to kill my family just because I play for my country. When you go outside you see how they worship us, but when you come back home they treat you like nobody.

Plight of ex-footballers

Look at most of our ex-footballers, how they are doing. We understand we live big lives, but some of us don’t have that money to support them and this is why I’m going to plead with my father, the sports minister.

We need something from you (sports minister) that is going to take care of our old players because we always see a lot of people complaining. Please, look into this matter because we understand what is going on. That is why most of us now think of a business to invest in after football because that is when life starts.

So, if you don’t plan well, we understand what happens. You need to enjoy, but some of us don’t have that privilege to play for big clubs and earn that big money.

‘Let’s do it again’

To the NFF president, please we are begging. I need this video (Let’s Do It Again documentary) please. This is what most of our players need.

We need this encouragement because most of us don’t stay in Nigeria. I always come to Nigeria. I have to fly from my club to come here. I will say thank you very much to the organisers for giving everything, my ticket, everything, thank you.

I am taking all these to my teammates to tell them 2024 is for the Super Eagles and for Nigeria. Let’s do it again.

I am promising we will do all our best to make Nigeria happy because I remember that celebration in 2013, when we landed at the airport. There was no road for us to pass for over two hours and this is the only sport that makes us one in Nigeria. Nobody thinks about Musa as a Muslim or (Kelechi) Iheanacho as a Christian. I can remember after the World Cup in Russia, when I arrived Nigeria, people were saying ‘Ahmed Musa for President’ because of just two goals, so, you can see how Nigerians love football.