Onazi & NPFL Coach Say The Same Thing On Victor Moses Retirement: He's Our Best Player

Super Eagles midfielder Eddy Ogenyi Onazi is coy over his long term future as a Nigerian international in the aftermath of the retirement of Chelsea forward Victor Moses and him (Onazi) not playing a part in Nigeria's campaign at the 2018 World Cup despite being part of the squad.

Onazi spoke to SuperSport on Saturday on the decision of Moses to retire and also reflected on not getting to the field in the Eagles' three matches in Russia.

"Victor retiring at this point in time is not good,  he's one of our best players but I respect his decision. Everybody has his reasons and opinions. I know he'll not be happy retiring. There must have been a reason he took that decision, but I respect his personal reasons.

On whether there are players good enough to fill the position left by the former Crystal Palace, Wigan and Liverpool star, Onazi responded in the affirmative.

"Of course its an opportunity for every player who plays in his position. We'll miss his experience but like I said, its an opportunity for whoever that is called upon.

"Speaking about retirement, maybe, anything is possible but once there's life, there's hope. I don't know, but I rather not talk about the World Cup because it was a huge, big disappointment for us.

"The World Cup is in the past now and I do not want to talk about it.

Onazi however revealed that he has been speaking with Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in early September against Seychelles.

"I spoke to the chief coach three days ago (Wednesday) and he told me that he is following everybody's (Nigerian players) progress and how important it is for everybody, so hopefully we will be ready because we do not want to miss out again from the Nations Cup, so we must take this seriously," Onazi disclosed.

In a related development, Mountain of Fire and Ministry (MFM) FC head coach Fidelis Ilechukwu has pleaded with chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation and coaches of the Nigeria national team to convince Chelsea forward Victor Moses to rescind his decision to quit international football.

Moses, who has 38 caps for Nigeria and scored 12 goals announced on Wednesday that he will be drawing the curtains on his international career
 
"Victor is arguably our best player. Some people kept saying he (Moses) he can go that we have so many good players, the truth is that we don't have.

"We cannot be happy losing our best," Ilechukwu quipped.