Former Super Eagles captain and coach Sunday Oliseh has questioned the continued leadership of Ahmed Musa as Nigeria’s national team captain.
Musa, who holds the record for the most caps in Nigerian football history, has served as the Super Eagles captain since 2019, after taking over from Mikel Obi who retired from the team.
But unlike the previous Eagles captains, Musa has spent more time on the bench or even without getting invite in some instances. And this Oliseh insists is wrong to have a national team led by a player who barely features on the pitch.
Oliseh told Channels TV, “This I want to call an anomaly, and it started when we started having on-the-bench-sitting captains.
“You can’t have that; you can’t have your captain sitting on the bench. In other words, you are saying it is an assistant that is leading the team. Super Eagles’ role is the most important in Nigerian football.”
Since he became the Super Eagles captain, Musa has led Nigeria to the 2021 and 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. In both competitions, though, he got very insignificant minutes of play. William Troost-Ekong was the team leader wearing the armband throughout most matches while Musa remained an unused substitute.
But it would even get worse for Musa. The attacking winger was left out of the team in year 2024. Musa was however, recalled by new Nigeria coach Eric Chelle for the Unity Cup friendlies played in England this month. In London, he made just a brief appearance as a substitute against Ghana, as Nigeria defeated both the Black Stars and Jamaica to win the tournament.
It is yet to be seen whether Musa will be retained for Nigeria’s crucial 2026 World Cup qualifying fixtures in September.
In all, Musa is the first Nigerian player to score a brace in two World Cup tournaments (2014, 2018). He is also Nigeria’s highest goalscorer at the FIFA World Cup with 4 goals.
Extrasportnigeria 
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