Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr has hailed the selfless professionalism of his captain Ahmed Musa after starting the Al Nassr star from the bench in their 2-1 win over Benin on Wednesday.
Musa was making a return to the team for the first time since the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament held in Egypt and had to feature for only the last four minutes of the AFCON2021 qualifying game, coming in for striker Victor Osimhen in the game played at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo.
At the post-match press conference, ACLSports Chief Football Writer Fisayo Dairo asked Musa if he is comfortable with a substitute role as the captain of the side.
After Musa’s answer, Rohr added a note of appraisal on his captain.
“It is wonderful that we have a captain like that who gave me yesterday the advice in the press conference, start the same team against Brazil,” said the former Gabon coach.
“We started with the same attack against Ukraine, it was all very good and he (Musa) said in the moment, play the other ones because they are playing more than me, coming back from injury.
“And to ask me to play the other people, it is wonderful to have a captain like that,” adds Rohr.
In the answer to our question, captain Ahmed Musa insists that he would be ready to play any role the coach deems fit.
“For me, I don’t have to play. If the coach wants me to play I will play but if he does not, I won’t. For me, I advised we can start the team that played against Brazil because they played very good.
“As you can see, the young players are coming up and we have to give them a lot of chance. Maybe Ahmed Musa is not going to be here for a long time so we have to start grooming lots of them.
“For me, captaincy changes nothing for me,” stressed Musa.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles will next face Lesotho in their second group L game in Maseru on Sunday.
