Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa has revealed that former President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, helped to ensure his name was included in Nigeria’s 2018 FIFA World Cup squad.
According to Musa, Pinnick had to call Gernot Rohr, who was the Super Eagles coach at the time to ensure the German tactician included his name in the World Cup squad even though the forward was not playing at Leicester City.
The 31-year-old spoke in Lagos on Friday during a ceremony to unveil the team’s ‘Let’s Do It Again’ mantra in their bid to win a fourth AFCON title in Ivory Coast next year.
Musa said, “For the former President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, I can remember when I was at Leicester City and I was not playing. He called the Eagles coach (Gernot Rohr) and said, ‘no matter what, Ahmed Musa must be invited to the team.’ And I went to the (2018) World Cup and was one of the best players at the tournament. Why? Because he (Pinnick) believed in me.
“When I was playing for JUTH FC, he was the first person that wanted to sign me for Warri Wolves back then because he knew what he saw in me when I was playing in Nigeria. I will say thank you very much sir.”
He added, “Also, Aisha Falode always supported us, she’s not just about women’s football. She always encourages me and gives the team the moral support that we need.”
What ex-NFF boss Amaju Pinnick did for me – Ahmed Musa
