By Olawale Ayeni, Abuja

Following the public outcries against the invitation of Ahmed Musa’s ahead of the inform duo of Paul Onuachu and Peter Olayinka for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games against Benin Republic and Lesotho, Super Eagles handler Gernot Rohr has ruled out the possibility of his captain playing the matches.

Musa is left without a club after leaving Saudi Arabia club side Al-Nassr in October after a two-year stay in Riyadh where he scored 9 goals in 50 appearances.

The German gaffer who included Musa in his 24-man provisional yesterday released by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), exclusively told LEADERSHIP Sports the former CSKA Moscow striker would play no part in the last two group games.

“He is not in the list of 23-man but he is invited like a captain, not like a player of the list,” Rohr said.
The Eagles gaffer however assured Nigerian football fans to expect good football and qualification tickets to the 2021 AFCON finals.

“Nigerians should expect good football and qualifications for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations,” he concluded.

Nigeria, top of the Group E log with eight points (one ahead of Benin Republic and five more than third-placed Sierra Leone), tackle the Squirrels away at the Stade Charles de Gaulle in Porto Novo on Saturday, March 27 and will lock horns with the Crocodiles of Lesotho at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos three days later. Both are the concluding games of the qualifying series.

Rohr, who has steered the three-times African champions, Nigeria to qualifying for two major tournaments (2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations) with a game to spare, countenance even better accomplishment this time, as the Eagles could earn a ticket to the finals in Cameroon before kick-off in Porto Novo, should Lesotho and Sierra Leone end their encounter in Maseru in a stalemate. The result would be known before kick-off in Porto Novo.

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