Ahmed Musa was supposed to earn his 100th cap for Nigeria when he played against Cape Verde in a world cup qualifier in early September. Musa, 28, had scored 15 goals in his previous appearances for Nigeria but remained behind former goalkeeper and captain, Vincent Enyeama on (101) and another former captain, Joseph Yobo (100) as most capped.
The former Kano Pillars player who made his debut as a 17-year-old in 2010, has participated in two World Cup tournaments for Nigeria (2014, 2018), and has scored the most World Cup goals (4) for the Super Eagles.
He was a member of Nigeria’s Nations Cup-winning squad in 2013.
The Fatih Karagumruk of Turkey star shot into the limelight after helping Nigeria U23 win the 2010 WAFU Nations Cup where he scored goals against the Benin Republic and Burkina Faso. His performances saw him invited to the senior national team before the 2010 FIFA World Cup, although he did not make the 30-man squad due to an ankle injury.
At the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, the former Kano Pillars man scored three goals in five matches and he was included in FIFA’s shortlist for the Adidas Golden Ball.
He scored his first goal for the Super Eagles in an international friendly against Kenya in March 2011.
Musa began his European expedition at Eredivisie side VVV Venlo and his impressive performances at the Dutch side saw him sign for Russian top-flight side CSKA Moscow.
Having won three Premier League titles, one Russian Cup and two Russia Super Cups with the Horses in his four-year spell, he joined Leicester City on 8 July 2016, for a club record of £16.6 million at that time.
Following his inability to tie down a regular place at the King Power Stadium, he was sent back to CSKA Moscow on loan, before teaming up with Al Nassr in 2018 on a permanent deal.
After the game in Mindelo, a port city on São Vicente in Cape Verde, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, disclosed that the country’s football body will give Ahmed Musa 10 million Naira for reaching 100 caps with Nigeria, adding that other players who achieve such milestone will be equally honoured. Musa then, in turn, dedicated the achievements to his teammates and declared N5 million out of the money to be shared by the players and backroom staff.
Then boom, it happened!
FIFA declared that Ahmed Musa had played only 98 official matches for Nigeria. What that meant was that the celebrations had all come too early.
What exactly was the issue?
In looking into Musa’s appearances for the national team, two matches stood out. Both in 2017, which was captured in the NFF’s 99-match itinerary for the 28-year-old but have been discounted by the world’s football regulatory body, FIFA.
On 1 June 2017, in Paris, the Eagles played Togo in a friendly, which they won 3-0 but Coach Gernot Rohr made nine substitutions in that encounter, which degraded the match from being a FIFA-certified Grade A friendly to being a training match.
Musa played for 46 minutes during that encounter before he was replaced by Victor Osimhen.
There can only be a maximum of six substitutions in a FIFA-certified match.
The second forfeiture was during the qualifying series for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The Eagles played Algeria on 10; November 2017 and though the match ended 1-1; Nigeria forfeited the match, having fielded an ineligible player-Shehu Abdullahi, courtesy of two yellow cards he picked up in the course of the qualifiers.
Musa came on for Alex Iwobi in the 81st minute of that encounter.
Abdullahi’s two yellow cards, which meant an automatic suspension, came against Swaziland and Zambia.
FIFA, in a statement on 12 December 2017, said, “The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in the match between Algeria and Nigeria on 10 November 2017. The match is declared to be forfeited and awarded 3-0 in favour of Algeria, with the NFF also receiving a fine of CHF 6,000.
“The sanction relates to the player Abdullahi Shehu failing to serve the automatic one-match suspension imposed on him as a result of receiving a caution in two separate matches of the same competition. This sanction bears no impact on the final result of the preliminary competition for the FIFA World Cup since Nigeria had already qualified (and Algeria eliminated) before the match took place.”
A forfeiture means FIFA expunged the match from its official records. The three points and three goals awarded to Algeria meant a walkover, meaning the match never happened.
Officially, as the NFF is a subset of FIFA so there cannot be two records for the same player.
Thus, Musa had 97 caps and only recorded a 98th appearance for the Super Eagles during the encounter against Cape Verde.
As it stands :
It is an all too easy situation. Ahmed Musa will be invited to play the forthcoming World Cup qualifier between Nigeria and Central Africa Republic (CAR) over two legs in Lagos and Douala. Yes, Doula in Cameroun is where the CAR are playing all their home matches due to the political situation in the Central Africa Republic. Both matches will take place on October 10 and 14th respectively.
Ahmed Musa couldn’t become a centurion in September but he would be, come October.
The former Kano Pillars boy, except in the unlikely event of a long time injury, is expected to still be in the Super Eagles team at least for the next one year so he has the opportunity of becoming the highest capped Super Eagles player of all time.
One step at a time though, let’s first see Ahmed Musa earn his 100th cap in October.
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