Mr Viral
The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 3 and verse one that “there is time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
One African proverb says that if one over stays in a latrine, he would begin to see flies of different colours.
This means that if you don’t quit from a position when the ovation is loudest, the same mouth people used in praising you, they will also use in ridiculing you when you start floundering.
Today’s piece is about two captains of the Super Eagles, Ahmed Musa and William Troost-Ekong.
Musa made his debut for the Super Eagles on September 5, 2010 at the age of 17 in a qualification match for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations against Madagascar.
He actually came on as a substitute for John Obi Mikel but he scored his first international goal in a March 2011 friendly match against Kenya.
Musa went ahead to feature in two World Cup finals in 2014 and 2018. His best times with the team were in 2013 when the Super Eagles won the AFCON in South Africa and at the 2018 World Cup in Russia when he scored the two goals against Iceland, thus becoming the first Nigerian player to score more than one goal in a World Cup match.
It is said that the active life time of an athlete is 10 years after which diminishing return sets in. If Musa made his debut in 2010, it means that he clocked 10 years of active football in 2020.
His performance started dwindling after then but he refused to hang his boots. Maybe his reason was to hit 100 caps for the Super Eagles..
He did not only hit 100 caps but went ahead to re- cord 111 caps, the most capped player in the Super Eagles. Rather than quit when the ovation was loudest for him, Musa stayed on, against calls by fans that he should quit.
In our local parlance, it said that “if you no leave football, football go leave you”. And that is what eventually happened to Musa.
Since he refused to quit and the NFF kept inviting him to the Super Eagles, stressing that they want him to motivate his teammates even as a non-playing captain but the coaches condemned him to the bench.
The Captain’s band was handed over to the vice captain, Troost-Ekong who led the team at the 2023 AFCON. Till today Musa has not officially announced his retirement from international football.
Unlike Musa, Troost-Ekong last week announced his retirement from international football. He feels diminished when left on the bench even though he gets to be brought in as a substitute sometimes.
In the World Cup play-offs decided in Morocco, Troost-Ekong never got the opportunity to even play for one minute and they lost the ticket to DR Congo and therefore lost the opportunity for another World Cup berth. That was when he told himself it was time to quit.
He is among the 10 most capped Super Eagles players with 83 appearances, ahead of Austin Okocha who is number 10 with 73 caps.
Okocha also retired from international football as captain of the Super Eagles after the team failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup following the 1-1 draw with Angola in Kano.
As Troost-Ekong called it quits mid last week, they are only two players still in active football among the 10 most capped Super Eagles players,
They are Moses Simon, sixth on the log with 86 caps since his debut in 2015 and Alex Iwobi on the fourth position with 90 caps since his debut in 2015.
Even though Troost-Ekong was listed among the 54 preliminary squad, he said in an interview that “there is an art in knowing when to step away.”
Unlike Musa who would have grabbed the opportu- nity to play again if invited, Troost-Ekong said, “self- ishly, I would have loved to lift the Africa Cup of Na- tions (AFCON) and play at one more World Cup (but) I feel like there’s been a gradual passing of the baton from where I am as one of the leaders and captain”.
And that baton which Musa really didn’t pass to him officially, he is passing to his deputy, Wilfred Ndidi who has been endorsed to lead the Super Eagles to the AFCON in Morocco.
Troost-Ekong affirmed that “It’s time to step away and let the next generation and the boys I’ve been playing with for the last few years get a chance to write their own story”.
He believes the Super Eagles are in good stead to win the 2025 AFCON because they have learnt a lot of lessons from their loss to Cote d’Ivoire in the last edition, adding that he would be in Morocco to moti- vate his colleagues.
In conclusion he said, “It would be a beautiful way to kind of crown the generation of players that we’ve had now and also give them the respect that they, over the years, probably deserved.”
With the bold step Troost-Ekong has taken, it be- hoves on Musa, to honourably announce his retire- ment from international football officially as well.
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