The “Governor” as he is fondly called only came on in the last five minutes of Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Benin Republic on Wednesday evening at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium.
However, in his post-match conference which Soccernet.ng was a part of, Musa revealed he has no problems with the manager’s selection, saying he is just happy to be back in the team.
The Al-Nassr forward missed Nigeria’s last two games prior to the Benin game due to injuries. When asked whether his case is similar to Mikel who found himself on the bench in the last days of his Super Eagles career, Musa said no, but it is logical for Rohr to start with the same players that played against Brazil and Ukraine.
“Like I said in the pre-match conference, I am just happy to be back in the team. It is normal for the manager to select the players that played against Brazil, Musa said in the postmatch conference.
“For me, I don’t have to play. If the coach wants me to play I will play but if he does not, I won’t. For me, I advised we can start the team that played against Brazil because they played very good.
“As you can see, the young players are coming up and we have to give them a lot of chance. Maybe Ahmed Musa is not going to be here for a long time so we have to start grooming lots of them.
Echoing what his captain said, Rohr praised Musa’s attitude, saying he is an example for young footballers.
“Let me add to what he said, this man is a good captain-pointing at Musa.” He told me before the game to start the same team that started against Brazil, Rohr added.
“We started with the same attack against Ukraine, it was all very good and he (Musa) said in the moment, play the other ones because they are playing more than me, coming back from injury. And to ask me to play the other people, it is wonderful to have a captain like that,” Rohr added.
Nevertheless, Musa will hope to get more minutes when Nigeria travel to Lesotho to take on the Crocodiles. The Super Eagles lead Group L with three points followed by Lesotho and Serria Leone who both have one point each after they played out a 1-1 draw in the other group encounter.