Musa ‘sad’ Eagles will play without fans, promises victory

SUPER Eagles captain Ahmed Musa is not happy the team will not have their fans cheering them on against Sierra Leone in Benin on Friday.

Due to COVID-19 guidelines, the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium will be played behind closed doors so as to prevent the spread of the contagious virus.

“For me and the team it’s a very sad moment (playing without fans) because playing in Benin, the hometown of my mum, I’d love to see my family members watching,” Musa said in a video posted on the Super Eagles YouTube channel.

“But there’s nothing we can do because of the situation in the country with the pandemic.So we have to play like that. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Musa however promised to make it up to the fans with a good performance and result against the West African underdogs.

“Insha Allah we’re going to do our best to win because we know if we win the two games, we’ve already qualified for AFCON so we’re doing our best to qualify,” he added.

“To the fans, we know all they need is for us to win and Insha Allah we’ll do that.”

The Super Eagles have six points from their first two qualfiers against Benin Republic and Lesotho, and victories in the double-header with Sierra Leone (Friday in Benin, next Tuesday in Freetown) would all but guarantee their passage to the tournament.

The former Leicester City forward interacted with the Flying Eagles while training in Abuja and explained how he shared words of wisdom with the U-20s.

Musa, who attended the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2011 with the Flying Eagles, said: “I was once like them. I just gave them words of encouragement. They can do it. In a couple of years maybe one or two of them may be in the Super Eagles. They should believe in themselves that they can do it. That’s the only secret.”