Ahmed Musa : Every Word On Madagascar, Mood In Super Eagles Camp, Pay Dispute With NFF, Players' Commitment & More

Ahmed Musa represented the Super Eagles players at Saturday's pre-match press conference at the Press Conference Room of the Alexandria Stadium ahead of tomorrow's last group match at the Africa Cup of Nations against Madagascar.

Ahmed Musa it is good to see you. What is the mood in camp, are you looking to go forward in this particular game?

AM : ''Yeah, as you can see, this is not the.... The last game we had some issues but we came out and showed we are ready, we have to keep that aside and concentrate  on the next game. I know it is an important game. I think my first game is against Madagascar in Calabar in 2010. I played with them, they are very good but we will see who will carry the day tomorrow.''

Ahmed the last time we didn't see you here, there were rumors of the team not happy with the Federation about bonuses and now there are rumors that those demands have been met partly. Is the team happy with what the FA has provided for them or are there still some issues with the FA?

AM : ''For me, I know that we have some issues but we sit down, talk to ourselves and we don't have to make that problem to be an issue in the camp. We proved ourselves in the last game. For saying that there is something coming up we don't know, we just talk to ourselves that we have to keep on going, when the FA is ready, they are ready. The camp is very lively''.

The players are doing well for their clubs more than the national team?

AM : ''This is a funny question, I have never heard about this. The players in the Super Eagles are determined whether national team or in our club. This is our country, we have to fight for our country. We were in our country before moving to our clubs, we started back home. This is our fatherland, we have to work very hard.  Even though we get injured, we know it is going to affect us in our clubs but we don't have to think about any injury. When you think about injury that's when you get injured. Thank you''.

Are there any other challenges the Super Eagles are facing apart from the existing issues that you want the government to look into?

AM : ''I think it's not only in Nigeria. All Africa teams have the same issues each time we have tournaments so I think the government have to think about this. It is not always we keep on embarrassing our countries in tournaments. It's all over Africa, any time we go to tournaments you see some teams saying they are not coming because of money''.

How do you see your match next against Madagascar, is there any fear of their players or losing the match and not topping the group?

AM : ''We know that it is a very tough game, Madagascar play very good, have good players, some quality players. As you can see we are not afraid of any country, we are just coming there tomorrow. After ninety minutes we will know who is the best team''.

Earlier this morning a story broke that the issue from the last press conference has been resolved and the FA has sorted out the national team totally, paid all their bonuses. I want to find out if this is the exact situation of things.

AM :''We heard something about that but we haven't seen anything, so maybe before I go back something will happen. Like I earlier said we just talk to ourselves that we keep that aside and concentrate on what we are here for''.

There's talk about rancor in the team as regards finances. Do you think it has affected the quality of your play as a team. Last time around the goal didn't come early and there were some criticisms from some quarters that the boys didn't play particularly well.

AM : ''Everybody is just talking about money, money, money. For me, I don't think there is anything separating the team in the camp. The last game you that didn't play you saw what the weather looked like. It is not that easy playing under this weather and you have to give your one hundred percent. I heard one lady saying that she nearly collapsed when she was walking so it's not that easy for the players running, it's not that easy. Each game is more important and we are improving in each game, so the next game will be better''.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel