Super Eagles captain Musa on missing out on World Cup, Peseiro's target of winning AFCON 2023

Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa was on media duties on Wednesday, a day before the national team trade tackles with Sierra Leone in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

The former CSKA Moscow winger was in the squad that failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after they were held to a 1-1 draw by the Black Stars of Ghana.

Musa spoke of the disappointment within the squad after missing out on the World Cup, and remarked that there are signs that interest in the Super Eagles is waning, but the players are focused on the game against Sierra Leone.

"The last game we played in Abuja was very sad for everyone, not only you, for me myself it was a very tough moment, there's nothing we can do, that's football," Musa told reporters.

"In football sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Now we are here for qualifiers against Sierra Leone, everyone in camp is ready to make Nigeria proud.

"We know that nowadays no one cares about the Super Eagles because of the disappointment during the World Cup qualifiers but we just have to keep pushing and focused for the next game."

Musa reacted to the comments made by Jose Peseiro about winning the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, and has provided an insight into how the players are reacting to the methods of the Portuguese.

"He said he was coming to win the Nations Cup. He knows what he saw that he said that.

"With the kind of players that we have right now, it's just concentration and someone that believes in us, so I'm going to say that we need Nigerians to still believe in the players.

"He said his target is to win the AFCON because Nigerians have the best of players that can do that so it's left for the players to prove him right that what he saw we are going to deliver.

"With the kind of training I saw these two days that I worked with him, I wasn't in the USA, what I saw in Nigeria, definitely I know that it's going to be a different Super Eagles.

"With this manager a lot of things will change, if you prove yourself then you get playing time".

Musa, Nigeria's all-time record appearance holder, has recorded 31 appearances in AFCON qualifying since his senior debut in 2010 and has scored six goals.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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