The captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Ahmed Musa has taken a swipe at players living abroad playing for the team in the wake of the poor results the team is encountering at the moment, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Musa who has been missing from the last three squads of the team led by Jose Peseiro and in that time the team has won just two of their last five games. The recent back to back draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively in the team old cup qualifiers put them in a tight position after two games.
Speaking in Lagos at an event, Musa who said the team is lacking the leadership of the senior players says he always feels a sense of pride, when he puts on the shirt of the team and says those saying he should leave the team don’t understand how proud he is defending the colours of the country.
He said the fear of having his family members targeted by angry fans after a defeat or a poor performance spur him and others who have their families back here unlike those who now live abroad.
*A lot of people have been saying, ‘oh Musa is old.’ No, I’m not. I started playing for the Super Eagles since I was 19 years, so, I’ve been here since and that is why everybody is thinking Musa has been in Eagles for long. Whenever I wear that jersey it’s a privilege and pride to me.
“I love this country and I know whenever we lose, I have a family back home, I know the pressure they face when we lose. When we are on the pitch, they say ‘na him mother be this, go insult am (this is his mother, insult her). So, I know that I must put in everything I have so that people don’t insult my family.
“Nowadays, with the players we have in the team, none of them stay in Nigeria. They don’t know that anger that most of us, who have families in Nigeria, face when the team loses”, he rounded up saying.
Osas Mahawi
