Ahmed Musa and The True Big Game Players in Super Eagles - May Be Needed for the Final Playoff Game in Abuja

  

No matter how we try to down play it, the tension has risen after Ghana showed a hard nut to crack in Kumasi. Any slip now will cause Nigeria the 2022 Qatar World Cup ticket. We must trade with caution, but we must also look at true big game players in the team, players who can rise to the occasion to become the deciding factor.

Emmanuel Amunike was that kind of player in his active days. Amuneke was at the heart of the greatest achievements of Nigeria’s Golden Generation. In the Nations Cup final—Nigeria’s second nation's cup victory in 1994 —Amuneke scored twice as Zambia were defeated 2-1.

Again, Amuneke had netted on Nigeria’s debut World Cup performance—that unforgettable 3-0 victory over Bulgaria in Dallas.

He also, notably, netted the winner in the 1996 Olympic final against Argentina as the Dream team ran away with 3-2 winner in Atlanta.

I do not know his present form now, but I think Ahmed Musa is the only big game player in the Super Eagles team at the moment. Yeah, Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze won at the U17 world Cup in 2013 and 2015 respectively, but football is different at the senior international level.

Musa has shown over time that the Super Eagles can rely on him in big games especially with most of the players in the present set up relatively new to international football and the pressure that comes with it. He has the mental capacity to rise to the occasion in this final playoff game. in Abuja this Tuesday.

At two different World Cup we have seen him come alive in key games even in some qualifiers. After scoring twice against Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Musa became the first Nigerian to score in two FIFA World Cup competitions when he scored twice against Iceland in the group stage of the 2018.

He may be in the twilight of his career and playing for Fatih Karagümrük S.K in Turkey, but, I think, he has both physical and mental capacity to excel and make the difference in this final playoff game against Ghana in Abuja. 

Musa's speed and work rate can be bought to bear in a game like this. He is one player in the Super Eagles team that can cover a lot of distance in a short time, in term of speed and recovery to join defending, marking in the midfield and back to attack in one sweep, in terms of stamina.

By this, I am not trying to choose players for Austine Eguaveon, I am only trying to point out the make up of the present players in the National team at the moment. Amunike, being a true big game player himself may understand more, what I really mean.