Nigeria captain Ahmed Musa has admitted he could hang up his international boots following AFCON 2021 after 103 appearances for the Super Eagles. The Fatih Karagumruk winger is set to appear in his third AFCON tournament when Nigeria faces Egypt on Tuesday. Ahmed Musa has scored 16 goals for the Super Eagles including four at the FIFA World Cup making him Nigeria‘s top scorer at the tournament. The Jos-born speedster established himself as a legend for the West African nation and asked his teammates to win him the title as a parting gift.
In the press conference ahead of the game against Egypt, he said, “I think this could be my last Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria. I explained the importance of this edition of Afcon to my teammates, and I told them winning the title is the only thing they can gift me, and they told me they are going for it. My first tournament with Nigeria was the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, where we successfully won the title, and my second appearance was in Egypt where we came third.”
Ahmed Musa was part of the victorious squad led by the legendary Stephen Keshi that won the tournament in South Africa in 2013. He also helped Gernot Rohr’s team win bronze at the 2019 edition in Egypt. Nigeria then missed out on the 2015 and 2017 editions. Ahmed will be bringing a storied career to a close and we wish him good luck.
GROUP D
Nigeria and Egypt will open Group D for battle in what is expected to be the group decider. The Super Eagles sacked Gernot Rohr only a month to AFCON and the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) brought back former coach Augustine Eguavoen to lead the team for AFCON 2021. The NFF then hired Jose Peseiro who will watch the tournament as an observer. No one knows what to expect from Nigeria at the tournament. Meanwhile, Egypt will be hoping on Liverpool’s talisman Mohamed Salah and the experience of their head coach Carlos Queiroz to advance from the group. Nigeria will be without Emmanuel Dennis, Victor Osimhen, and Odion Ighalo for the tournament.
