The Super Eagles forward joined an elite list when he featured against Cape Verde on Tuesday evening
Ahmed Musa became Nigeria’s third centurion on Tuesday, when he featured against Cape Verde in the Super Eagles’ World Cup qualifier.
Amidst a swathe of absentees, the 28-year-old was named in Gernot Rohr’s starting XI for the away game against the islanders—following in the footsteps of Joseph Yobo and Vincent Enyeama.
Until this week, the iconic former centre-back and the legendary ex-goalkeeper were the only players in the history of the Nigerian game to reach 100 appearances.
However, with Musa’s showing against Cape Verde, the elite group of players to have reached three figures with the Eagles has gone up to three.
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All of the three were key figures when the Super Eagles won their third Africa Cup of Nations title—in South Africa—under Stephen Keshi in 2013, and all were part of the squad that reached the knockout stages of the World Cup in Brazil a year later.
Musa made his Nigeria debut on August 5 2010, having previously represented the Eagles at youth level.
That fixture was a Nations Cup qualifier against Madagascar, which Nigeria won 2-0 after Musa had come off the bench to replace John Obi Mikel.
Since then, he’s become a regular fixture in the national side, graduating from becoming one of the squad’s younger faces to establishing himself as a valuable veteran and, latterly, the Eagles captain.
The goals haven’t always flown for Musa, but the attacker has certainly enjoyed some magical moments for the national side.
He came alive at the World Cup—notably with a double against Argentina in the 3-2 victory at the 2014 tournament, and then again with a brace against Iceland four years later.
He overtook Nwankwo Kanu as Nigeria’s third most capped player in 2019, and can draw level with Enyeama and Yobo on 101 appearances the next time he takes to the pitch for the Eagles.
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