Sports
Musa Happy With Contributions To S’Eagles
The CSK Moscow player,
Ahmed Musa, 21, lost words in describing how happy he was at contributing two goals in Super Eagles 2-3 loss to Argentina in the ongoing World Cup in Brazil.
The loss still took the African champions to the Round of 16 of the tournament.
Musa, Born on October 14, 1992 in the Plateau capital, Jos, expressed his joy at a post match news conference at the end of the last Group F game, at the Estadio Beira-Rio, in Porto Alegre.
Responding simply to a comment that as the most criticised player in Nigeria, what his feelings were realising that his contribution had stood him out, he said: “I am happy I have proved my critics wrong”.
Part of the criticisms was that Musa in many cases would always out run his opponents only to fail to create chances or fail to properly utilise chances created for him to score goals.
But on a day that mattered most, against Argentina in order to qualify for the Round of 16, Musa rose to the occasion for the first time.
He slotted two vital goals that set the country toward almost breaking the jinx of getting past Argentina in a World Cup.
His equalising goal in the fourth minute after Lionel Messi scored in the third minute forced Argentina to temporarily slow down their attack.
“It was a win-win situation for both Argentina and Nigeria,’’ whipped Duro Ikhaziagbe, a Lagos-based journalist who is in Brazil to cover the World Cup as players and fans of both countries ended up back slapping each other.
“This is the third time Musa will make the Eagles’ squad against Argentina, two of which were in friendly games.
“On two of the previous games, he failed to lift, but had reserved the best for the last — in a World Cup situation — with the crucial goals that helped the Eagles to make the round of 16’’.
Another, Nigerian journalist, Munini Alao, the General Manager of Complete Sports also in Brazil to cover the Mundial, used the occasion to acknowledge the sterling contributions of the player.
Alao apologised to the player and Nigerians that he had once been one of the critics of Musa.
“Accept my apologies,’’ Alao said, a rare gesture from a journalist.
“The Argentines have always beaten us at the FIFA World Cup, though narrowly each time.
“We also need to show our true strength as the champions of Africa,” Aminu Maigari, President of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) had told the players before the match.
Nigeria met Argentina first at USA ’94 World Cup, losing 1-2 in Boston on June 25, 1994, and was again pipped 1-0 courtesy of a Gabriel Batistuta goal in Ibaraki, Japan on June 2, 2002.
When both sides met in South Africa four years ago, an early goal by Gabriel Heinze condemned the Eagles to a 1-0 defeat.
However, at the Olympic Games, the story was not the same, in Atlanta ’96 in the U.S., Nigeria beat them to the gold medal — a victory that left the Argentines flustered for many years.
Argentina U-23 team to the 2008 Olympic Games in China had evened-up the Olympic record with 1-0 victory over Nigeria at the final.
However, it is sweet to recall fond memories of the 4-1 defeat the Eagles handed down to Argentina in a friendly in Abuja on June 1, 2011.
But importantly, the 3-2 defeat by the U-23 team that gave Africa the first Olympic football gold in Atlanta, 18 years ago.
However, in the match in Porto Alegre, the Argentines were more or less “playing having entered Brazil, its neighbours.
The Argentines fans had occupied every available space and virtually drowning the voices of a pockets of Nigerian fans that managed to traverse almost 10 hours across the Atlantic Ocean, to be part of their national team’s outing at the quadrennial soccer extravaganza.
Musa deserved his pay. Indeed, he earned it through hard work., utilising his chance off a pass by the now injured, Michael Babatunde to send a solid strike that stretched the Argentine goalkeeper who dived full length but failed to stop the goal from going past him.
The player, who is 1.70 metres tall and currently weighs 62 kg, began his football career in 2008 and now plays a striking role in PFC CSKA Moscow.
However, it was Musa, Emmanuel Emenike and Peter Odemwingie playing up were instrumental to the Eagles’
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has said that criticism that he and other players chased money by moving to Saudi Arabia is wide of the mark.
The 33-year-old left Chelsea for Al-Ahli in a £16m ($21.4m) deal in 2023, and in May the Africa Cup of Nations winner helped his Saudi club win the Asian Champions League, making him one of the few players to win both that competition and its European equivalent.
But, like many others, Mendy has been criticised for playing for money rather than prestige in the lucrative Saudi Pro League.
When asked about such criticism, Mendy told a Tidesports source, “Al-Ahli’s project came along and they made me feel I had a big role to play.
“Two years later, we won the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. So yes, that validates my choice. And I hope the coming years will validate it even more.”
He added: “Some people will quickly jump to conclusions and say the only reason is money. From the start, I always said that when I left Chelsea, I knew I was joining another team where I could win everything , which was no longer the case at Chelsea.”
The Blues have since won the Conference League, Europe’s third-tier club competition, under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
But it comes after the regime’s trophyless first two years, a period which has frustrated some supporters after the success enjoyed under Roman Abramovich’s stewardship in the previous 19 years.
Mendy has also been celebrating what he describes as a historical win with Senegal against England at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, but days earlier he had been in Dakar delivering a different kind of win.
He is the sponsor of Yakaar, a school in Keur Massar, which seeks to improve funding and access to digital learning tools for local children from underprivileged backgrounds.
Famously, as Mendy grew up in France, he was unemployed, aged 22, while struggling to find a club, with members of his family still living on the outskirts of Dakar.
That is why Yakaar, a word meaning “hope”, was chosen, a word Mendy has carried with him in his career.
“Hope is what kept me going. When I was without a club, it was the hope of getting that first professional contract.
“Then the hope of playing for the national team. The hope of making my family proud by doing the job I had always dreamed of.
“Indeed, hope is the best word to describe my career.”
Mendy was also asked whether the responsibility of being an African goalkeeper had weighed heavily on him.
“Of course. When I was in England, there weren’t many African goalkeepers in top clubs,” he admitted.
“Whether nationally or internationally, I had that responsibility. It’s the same for other African goalkeepers like Andre Onana [Manchester United] or Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal).”
The entire refereeing committee has been fired by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), with structural reforms soon set to follow.
According to sources, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has dismissed the entire refereeing committee in response to mounting pressure from clubs demanding structural reform. A major shake-up aimed at modernising Spanish refereeing from top to bottom has now been set in motion.
Head of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Luis Medina Cantalejo and Head of VAR, Carlos Clos Gomez, have been removed from their positions. They are joined by several senior officials, including Antonio Rubinos Perez and three vice presidents, who are also stepping down. A new leadership model will be introduced, led by a CEO and a sporting director, aiming to overhaul how refereeing is managed covering assessments, promotions, and daily operations. While the leadership changes are sweeping, the current pool of referees in La Liga and the second tier will remain, ensuring continuity on the field during the transition.
Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year contract with Al-Nassr that means he will stay with the Saudi Pro League club until beyond his 42nd birthday.
The Portugal captain, 40, joined the Riyadh-based team in December 2022 after leaving Manchester United in acrimonious circumstances, having criticised the club and said he had no respect for manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr deal had been due to expire at the end of June and there was speculation he could leave, but that has now been quashed.
In a post on X, Ronaldo wrote: “A new chapter begins. Same passion, same dream. Let’s make history together.”
Although Al-Nassr have not added to their nine domestic titles during Ronaldo’s time at the club, they have benefited from a flood of goals from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Ronaldo scored 35 times in 41 matches across all competitions last term and was the league’s top scorer for a second consecutive season.
He has managed 99 goals in appearances overall for Al-Nassr and is well on his way to reaching 1,000 senior goals in his career, with a current tally of 938 for club and country.
Having helped Portugal win the Uefa Nations League a little over two weeks ago, the former Manchester United, Real Madrid, Sporting and Juventus forward will almost certainly now be targeting a sixth World Cup appearance next summer.
Only a month ago, Ronaldo posted on social media to say “the chapter is over”.
That came after the Saudi Pro League wrapped up with Al-Nassr finishing third and trophyless once again.
The comment fuelled rumours that Ronaldo was ready to leave the league where he reportedly became the best-paid player in football history with an annual salary of £177m when he joined.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino raised the prospect of Ronaldo joining a team involved in the Club World Cup after Al-Nassr failed to qualify for the extended tournament which is being held in the United States.
Ronaldo said he had received offers from participating teams but had turned them down.
The decision to stay until at least 2027, which is certain to be highly lucrative, appears to rule out any future prospect of Ronaldo returning to play at the highest level in Europe.