AFCON
Salah won’t be a worry for us, Ahmed Musa declares ahead of Egypt clash
Egyptian publication, Kinfut has reported that the Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa is not worried about facing Mohamed Salah in Egypt clash as he believes their opponents should be the worried side.
Nigeria’s clash with Egypt takes place on the 11th of January in their first Group stage game in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations
The confrontation between the two teams will be an early finale as each side has a great history in the tournament, with Egypt being the record holders with seven wins and Nigeria having three trophies.
Speaking ahead of the game, Musa declared that they will be competing in Cameroon for the title, and facing Egypt isn’t going to shake them.
The Nigerian skipper even stated that they won’t be thinking about facing Salah as they have their own variety of skilled players.
“Everyone is talking about [Mohamed] Salah but if you look at our team, we have lots of players they will be worried about,” Musa told the media before Nigeria’s departure to Cameroon.
“So, we don’t have to think about Salah, they’ve to think about our own players.
“They talk about Salah but we have players like Samuel Chukwueze and others on the wings who are very dangerous – so that’s football.
“In each tournament, you will always see new players. I don’t think there is any new player going to AFCON that has not been with us since day one.
“So, we are together, and we know each other but it’s just something little the coach just needs to add into the team.
“For me, I think we’re ready because we have played lots of matches together, and like I said we are 100 percent ready.
“We aren’t going to Cameroon to see the beauty of the country but to win. I remember during the qualifiers when we sealed qualification, we said we aren’t just going to the AFCON we’re going to come back with the trophy.”
According to Libya’s news outlets, there are palpable fears in the Libya national team which faces successive crises and trying to avoid early elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.
The team which faces the Super Eagles this week has been plagued with players’ absences occasioned by injuries and boycotts.
The coach recently appointed has revealed the names of players refusing to represent the national team.
In a press conference held on Saturday, Coach Nasser Al-Hadhiri remarked that the absence of several players were due to real injuries.
In that class are Ahmed Al-Tarbi, a defender of Ahli Tripoli; Mohammed Al-Tabbal of Al-Nasr club and Ali Youssef who also suffered the injury while playing with Tunisia’s Club Africaine.
If the Libyan national team sticks to plans, the players are expected to have arrived in Nigeria ahead of their Thursday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying duel in Uyo.
With most players drawn from the domestic league, the national team had daily training sessions in Tripoli under coach Nasser Al-Hadhiri and his assistants Akram Al-Hammami and Abu Bakr Al-Hark.
However, according to media sources in Libya, the team faces injury worries even though the absence of Victor Osimhen in the Nigerian squad is being celebrated.
Even though it did not mention the injured Libyan players, Libya Al-Ahrar Channel reports that replacements were found in Al-Tahadi FC defender, Mohammed Khalil and Al-Nasr midfielder, Abdullah Abdul Rahim as well as Al-Akhdar winger, Faraj Ghaidhan. They take the places of the absent regular players.
Franck Mawuena who recently renewed his contract with Remo Stars has received a call-up to the Togolese squad for this week’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match. He had previously featured in the Belgian League.
He was part of the Remo Stars squad that finished second in the Nigeria Premier league last season. He scored six goals.
Togo will be away to Algeria on Thursday before hosting the reversed fixture on 14 October.
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