The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has told Chelsea wingback, Victor Moses that playing pranks with national duties might ruin his chances of joining the elite club of African Footballer of the year award winners.
The Super Eagles will file out against the Lions of Senegal in a friendly match today in London without Moses, who announced his withdrawal from the squad a few days ago due to alleged injury
Although Moses showed up at the Eagles’ Crowne Plaza Hotel Camp in London on Monday to prove to the team’s medical staff that he is not faking injury, but the Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr and other coaches are unhappy with him. It is the second time Moses is involved in major withdrawal, as he pulled out of Nigeria’s World Cup qualifier against Zambia in October last year.
Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick said: “Moses needs to understand that with his current performance with Chelsea, he stands a chance of becoming the next African player of the year, especially if his club should win the EPL title. But he needs to play regularly for the national team to make such dream come true. To be honest, Moses is one of the best African players at the moment, but as I said, he needs the Super Eagles.”
Speaking further, Pinnick, who is expected to join the Super Eagles camp in London today, revealed he had a chat with Moses yesterday “and during our conversation, Moses said that he actually wanted to play in the friendly against Senegal but for the injury. He is coming to see me tomorrow (today) when I arrive in London. Moses is likely to feature in Monday’s friendly against Burkina Faso.”
Reports suggest that manager Rohr was visibly angry with Moses during the face-to-face discussion on Monday. Moses claimed the injury he suffered against Manchester United in their FA Cup tie was the reason for not featuring in today’s friendly against Senegal, an excuse many football-loving Nigerians see as untenable since he had featured for Chelsea after the Manchester United game, playing over 70 minutes in their 2-1 victory over Stoke last weekend.