FIFA Puts Ahmed Musa’s Century Feat Champagne on Ice
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has deferred to FIFA’s own record of 98 caps for Super Eagles’ Captain, Ahmed Musa, following the nullification of two of the matches he played in which should have made his tally 100.
“We defer to FIFA in this regard, so Ahmed Musa has 98 caps. If he features, as expected, in the home-and-away matches against Central African Republic in October, he will clock the tally of 100 and the celebrations will follow in full flow,” NFF’s Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, said yesterday.
FIFA said on Tuesday that Musa’s appearances in the 3-0 defeat of Togo in a friendly match in Paris in June 2017 and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 qualifier against Algeria in Constantine in November 2017 did not count.
The match against Togo was struck off as both Nigeria and Togo made more than the regular number of changes in the game, while the encounter in Constantine, which ended 1-1, was deleted because Nigeria fielded an ineligible player (Shehu Abdullahi) and the result was overturned, with Algeria awarded the game, even as Nigeria had already picked the World Cup ticket before the tie.
Musa was believed to have achieved the feat on Tuesday when he was part of the Super Eagles squad that snatched all three points against Cape Verde in Mindelo.
The Turkish Fatih Karagumruk winger was promised N10m bonus by the NFF for the feat, a gesture he promptly offered half of the money to his teammates.
Victor Osimhen brought Nigeria to parity after profiting from a defensive howler, 10 minutes after the hosts had taken the lead with a ferocious shot by Dylan dos Santos Tavares that screamed past the flailing hands of goalkeeper Maduka Okoye.
With 15 minutes to go, Kenny Santos Rocha spectacularly lobbed his own goalkeeper Vozinha for Nigeria’s winning goal when attempting a backpass.