The 1st Vice-President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Seyi Akinwunmi, yesterday bemoaned the sudden retirement of Victor Moses from international duty, saying the national team would miss the services of the Chelsea man in their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Seychelles.
Akinwunmi however threw his weight behind the Super Eagles’ quest to clinch a ticket to the 2019 AFCON in Cameroon.
The Gernot Rohr-led team will on 8th of September battle Seychelles in a crucial 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. Both teams lost their opening games.
In a chat with Daily Trust yesterday, Akinwunmi believes the Super Eagles have the players, right attitude and the World Cup experience to defeat their opponents. According to him, he expects nothing else than victory.
“When we played against South Africa, we didn’t have players that had played in the World Cup and people underestimate the kind of experience they had.
“We have new players who have gone for greener pastures like Leon Balogun to Brighton. The truth is that we have equipment, the disposition and might to surmount our opponents,” he noted.
On the absence of key players from the Seychelles game, Akinwumi said the national team is bigger than anyone, but admitted that he would miss Moses the same way he missed Nigerian football greats, Adokiye Amiesimaka and Segun Odegbami.
“He is a wonderful player and I hope he changes his mind and comes back. I hope the coach can convince him and come back and if he doesn’t, we wish him the very best and hope other people take his position,” he noted.
Nigeria are third in Group E after losing their first game to South Africa in Uyo last June. Libya top Group E followed by South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
The players will fly in from their bases in Europe except one, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, who plays in the NPFL for Enyimba.
