Captain Ahmed Musa to wait longer for his 100 caps

Musa was initially on the list of players to have attained 100 caps for their national teams when he featured in the Eagles’ 2-1 win over Cape Verde in Mindelo but that record has now been nullified.

The Nigeria Football Federation in a statement by its Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, said it has deferred to FIFA’s own record of 98 caps for Musa, following the nullification of two of the matches he played in which should have made his tally 100.

“We defer to FIFA in this regard, so Ahmed Musa has 98 caps. If he features, as expected, in the home-and-away matches against Central African Republic in October, he will clock the tally of 100 and the celebrations will follow in full flow,” 

According to the world football governing body, FIFA, Musa’s appearances in the 3-0 defeat of Togo in a friendly match in Paris in June 2017 and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 qualifier against Algeria in Constantine in November 2017 did not count.

The match against Togo was struck off as both Nigeria and Togo made more than the regular number of changes in the game, while the encounter against Algeria, which ended 1-1, was deleted because Nigeria fielded an ineligible player and the result was overturned.

The Carthage Eagles were awarded the game, even as Nigeria had already picked the World Cup ticket before the tie.

Nigeria takes on Central African Republic next in the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup qualifiers. The two legged encounter scheduled for the 6th and 10th of October, 2021, will present another round of opportunities for Musa to finally pick the two caps left.

Musa made his debut for the Eagles’ age 17 on 5 August 2010 against Madagascar.

In his time with the Eagles, he became the first Nigerian to score more than once in a FIFA World Cup match, after scoring twice against Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The 28 year old is also the first Nigerian to score in two FIFA World Cup competitions, after scoring twice against Iceland in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and has scored 15 goals so far for Nigeria.