Ahmed Musa has shown the kind of leader he is. He leads by example on the field of play by scoring goals. Ignore the fact that Bakary Gassama, the centre referee in Saturday’s game at the FNB Stadium, Johannesburg allowed one of the assistant referees to mislead him into disallowing a goal scored by Musa. Off the pitch, Musa joins his mates in celebrating after victories and reminiscing on unfavourable results. Fans should not mix sports with religion.
When players celebrate, the motive of their victory songs is to rejoice and thank God (for the Christians) and Allah (for the Moslems). For Musa, the songs are celebratory, so he dances with his mates. He mimes the words as others sing along, that is if he doesn’t know the songs. Back home, Nigerians continue the celebration into the night, especially if the teams defeated are the Black Stars of Ghana, Indomitable Lions of Cameroon or Cote d’ Ivoire – these are our rivals in the continent.
The Eagles stand-in captain shared a video of himself and other stars rejoicing after they were held to a 1-1 draw in the match played on Saturday. But a fan of the Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia’s striker, musaumarsaid1348 posted a message reminding Musa about his faith.
“Don’t forget you are a Muslim,” the Instagram user said.
But the ex-Leicester City star, who was visibly upset, wasn’t having it. Musa set the record straight by telling the fan not to bring any form of religion on his page.
“Don’t come to my page and talk about religion. Take it out of my page please. I do what I like, not you telling me what to okay. Keep it to yourself if you are not okay with what I’m doing,” he added.
Will anyone blame Musa for dancing to Christian songs when two-thirds of his team mates are Christians? The Christian worship songs were sung in our major languages. It was a spectacle to hold on television. I was bowled over watching Gernot Rohr’s assistants, the Germans, clapping, singing and dancing along. So, what was wrong with Musa’s participation if foreigners enjoyed what they were witnessing? The beauty of dancing sessions in sports is that all faith have their songs. And it is always nice dancing to them if each faith is represented in the team.
Musa, who is from Edo State, has a Moslem upbringing. He doesn’t hide the fact that he isn’t Hausa, even though he speaks the language as fluently as the native speaker. Besides, Nigeria is a secular nation. In fact, in sports, it doesn’t matter where you come from, your creed or beliefs; what matters is your talent. It is only during sporting activities that Nigerians forget creed or religion. We embrace ourselves when our teams and athletes win laurels just as we stand up to recite our national anthem before major events.
Interestingly, the Bafana Bafana game had many twists and turns, one of which was the little South African boy, who wasn’t interested in Saturday’s game. He wanted to see, touch and talk with an Arsenal FC of London player, Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi. No prize for guessing that this kid supported Super Eagles against Bafana Bafana. What won’t fans do for their clubs and players? Age isn’t any restriction. It was moving watching the boy shed tears of joy of meeting Iwobi. He was fulfilled that Iwobi autographed his jersey – a lifetime experience. That he came with his mother shows how passionately the game is being followed globally.
This writer isn’t quick to complain about refereeing of matches. What we see on television at home are all the angles from slow motion replays, which the referees don’t have. Referees’ decisions are taken on the spur of the moment, even as this shouldn’t be why they can’t make the right decisions. What is intriguing is if the referee could have apologised to Musa. No referee apologises to any player after a game. An admittance of error to a player won’t be taken lightly by the continental soccer body.
I’ve read Musa’s response to the so-called apology and nowhere did he refer to where they met before the apology was made. Nor did he tell us what the referee wrote or said that precipitated his response.
“I will say that it was good that he realised his mistakes and apologised for his action and it is past tense for me,’’ Musa was quoted as saying.
“The major thing is that we have qualified for AFCON for the first time since 2013 and we are delighted about that. I don’t see any big deal about that because our emphasis was on playing at the Africa Cup of Nations and now that we have qualified, we are relieved.
“I am not worried that I was not able to score because we didn’t lose and we have got our hearts’ desires with the ticket to Cameroon. We know that it is time now for serious preparations and that is what we are after now.”
Clearly, Musa was responding to what he read. I digress.
No surprises that Eagles’ admirers always want the team to win matches, hence the barren draw result against the Cranes of Uganda elicited some harsh comments from them. Many felt that the players didn’t show enough enthusiasm to win the game. A few ex-internationals such as Victor Nosakhare Ikpeba, a former Africa Footballer of the Year, felt Gernot Rohr should scout for good midfielders – that section was weak due to Wilfred Ndidi’s absence.
Ikpeba posited: “The transition of this team from the midfield to the attack remains the weakest link. We are not quick enough. If we get our transition right, we will be unbeatable in Cameroon.
“We will be a threat in Cameroon with the qualities we have, but we must be ready. Egypt, Mali, Senegal, Tunisia are there; they will be there to compete. We have to do well in Cameroon after missing out on two editions. (But) winning the AFCON will be difficult and I think the last four will be a good outing for the Super Eagles.”
Indeed, one of the assistant coaches, goalkeeper trainer Alloy Agu revealed: “We’ve set a precedence in the Super Eagles such that any of the goalkeepers can come in and do well for Nigeria.”
“That was what Ikechukwu Ezenwa did for Nigeria in South Africa. You saw Daniel Akpeyi do it also against the Cranes of Uganda. So, it is not something that we should begin to say Super Eagles felt the absence of Francis (Uzoho) in South Africa.
“No, his absence did not affect the team. But truth is that he is a good goalkeeper, a fantastic one for that matter. He is still part of the team. He has done very well for the team and we are praying for him to recover and come back. But if there is any player the team felt his absence in the match (vs South Africa), it is (Wilfred) Ndidi, Agu.”
Will Rohr tell Nigerians next year that the Eagles are a work-in-progress, considering the time he has spent with them? We need to see Eagles play with plenty of understanding. We should sit anywhere in the world and watch the team devour countries not in our class. Fans are not asking for too much, if they felt the Eagles should beat the Cranes of Uganda – even as we have not beaten the Ugandans in recent times.
No Eagles team has enjoyed the kind of exposure to bigger friendly matches which Rohr’s has. In the past, friendly games were mostly played in the media.
Gallant Super Falcons
Super Falcons and other female Nigerian sides are magicians. Every time they attend competitions, I root for them, knowing what failure means to them. Our girls are on their own when there are no international competitions. We only remember them when an event beckons.
Falcons, for instance, have been inactive since they clinched the trophy two years ago. In the lull period of close to two years, other countries exposed their girls to rigourous training, including playing quality matches, a case in point being Bayana Bayana of South Africa.
It, therefore, hasn’t come as a surprise to pundits that Bayana Bayana beat the Falcons in the opening game. Rather, this writer is excited that the South Africans are changing the narrative in women football in Africa, with the way they trounced Equatorial Guinea 7-1 to show that their victory over Nigeria wasn’t a fluke. I won’t be surprised if the South Africans start the first professional female soccer competition in the continent.
We need a new approach to female football in Africa, which the emergence of South Africa could bring to the game. Nigeria’s dominance has translated to nothing, largely because we have a system where the sports minister thinks developing the industry through the involvement of the corporate world is a mirage.
A situation where the minister doesn’t watch matches involving our national teams explains why these teams are cash-strapped. It is important to inform the minister that these teams hoist our green-white-green flag during competitions. When they win, they make Nigerians happy. The teams are not for NFF but Nigeria. It is shameful when the international media is awash with stories of Nigerian players being owed huge sums of money.