The globe’s greatest sporting
competition has a tradition of
unveiling new and exciting
players; could 2014 be the year
for Nigeria’s young and
talented forward? Rarely does a
tournament pass without
another name being made worldwide and a fresh
superstar etching his name
into the annals of history. Pele and Michael Owen are
two characters who were
established before a watching
public in the 1958 and 1998
tournaments respectively. As
a prodigious teenager, Pele conquered the world as
Brazil’s bright young thing,
while Owen’s goal against
Argentina in Saint-Etienne,
when only 18, gave the player
a sense of immortality and vitality that only the ravages
of injuries could undermine. Similarly, players such as Marc
Overmars and Landon
Donovan burst onto the scene
at the World Cup in such a
way that their progress
within the sport would always be drawn back to that
original glistening moment in
the sun. Is there any reason why
Nigeria’s Ahmed Musa could not be the latest in the long
line of these World Cup
wonderkids? Initially, it is important to
clarify that the CSKA Moscow
man enjoys quite a different
standing within the national
side to that of Owen before
France ’98. Whilst Owen, back in those
days, was a bright young
thing whose place within the
squad had been debated, Musa
is an established senior
international. Whilst Owen was carried to
the tournament on the back
of a stunning run of goal-
scoring for Liverpool, Musa
has long been a favourite of
Keshi and has grown to be a fine addition to the Super
Eagles collective. When 18-year-old Owen
headed to the World Cup in
1998, he had only five caps.
Musa, at 21, already has 35 and
will likely accumulate a few
more before the big kick-off in Brazil. Despite featuring at both the
Cup of Nations in January and
the Confederations Cup during
the summer, Nigerian fans
have not yet seen the best of
Musa. In South Africa he started the
first two games, but was then
resigned to a substitute’s role,
a legacy of the return to
fitness of Victor Moses, the
efficiency of Emmanuel Emenike and the relentless
endeavour of Ideye Brown.
His cameos were encouraging,
his bold running and excellent
pace clearly stretched and
tortured opposition defences, particularly in contests against
Ethiopia and the semi-final
against Mali. In this latter
fixture he even managed to
find the net, playing his own
part in a famous rout. The ‘impact substitute’ role
seemed to suit Musa during
the tournament, although the
youngster clearly looked keen
to assert himself within the
side and leave a lasting legacy in the continent’s premier
competition. This nascent aspiration began
to grow roots as the year
wore on. Musa started
the fixture and emerged as
the contest’s key individual. His goal, a fine chipped finish
past the onrushing Duncan
Ochieng, not only
demonstrated his fine
movement and energy, it also
showed his growing ability to take matches by the scruff of
their neck and become the
difference-maker. By then,
the 81st minute, most of us
had given up on there being a
winner. Anyone who watched that
match may well have
forgotten the malaise that
surrounded the Super Eagles.
Ideye Brown, in particular,
looked toothless, but Musa demonstrated the endeavour
and the ability to make the
breakthrough. Had Musa’s trajectory
continued, he would have
stepped into the
Confederations Cup, in Brazil,
as one of the team’s key men
and finally left his mark on an international tournament. He didn’t, and indeed, was one
of several Nigerian forwards
who were found wanting in
front of goal. However, despite some poor
decision-making and
wayward shooting (both
acceptable attributes for a
young forward) there are
several positives to be taken from his showings against
Spain, Uruguay and Tahiti. First of all, Musa was one of
only seven players that
played every minute of every
game during this tournament.
Certainly, it’s only fair to
point out that Moses and Emenike were missing, but
this still represents a fine vote
of confidence in the
youngster’s abilities from
Stephen Keshi. While the likes of Sunday Mba,
Tony Ujah, Joseph Akpala and
Ideye Brown drifted in and
out of the side, Musa looked
like he was there to stay. The youngster also
demonstrated his versatility
during these three matches.
While he predominantly made
an impact on the right flank
during the Cup of Nations, in Brazil he started on the left.
When we consider that for
club side CSKA Moscow, the
player typically operates
centrally, it is clear that Musa
is a valuable asset to the team and someone capable of
fitting into several positions
and several different roles
within Keshi’s fluid forward
line. Musa: A Russian and African Champion Against Uruguay he
demonstrated a preference to
switch between the flanks
and confound the opposition
full-backs. This is an approach
that could be devastating if performed in tandem with
Moses, Victor Obinna or Sone
Aluko. It is easy to overlook Musa’s
contribution in the defeat to
Spain. It’s not always easy to
take positives from a 3-0 loss,
but the forward’s work on
the left-hand side, where he was up against Alvaro
Arbeloa and Gerard Pique was
exceptional. He demonstrated
his role as a valuable counter-
attacking option against elite
opponents who will look to impose great pressure upon
Nigeria. His acceleration is awesome
and during this bout he sent a
number of teasing crosses into
the box. Had Emenike, or even
someone with the presence of
Shola Ameobi or Bright Dike been operating up top instead
of Akpala, then there is every
chance that one of Musa’s balls
might have been turned into
the net. A goal could feasibly have
changed the complexion of
the game. Considering these qualities,
only briefly outlined here, as
well has his international
experience and the
momentum he is enjoying
following a hugely-successful 2013, Musa has every chance
of making a major impact at
the World Cup. There are
certainly areas of his game to
improve over the coming six
months, but if he can continue his progress, then both Bosnia
and Iran, as well as, perhaps
most-importantly, Argentina,
will have reasons to fear this
prodigious young talent. Could Ahmed Musa’s name
one day be uttered within the
same breath as Owen,
Donovan and Pele? www.goal.com/en-ng/news/4082/editorial/2013/12/28/4499524/why-ahmed-musa-could-be-the-world-cups-breakout-star

Sure...

Maafiaalady: Sure...

i support that, considering his age. He is still young

Like seriously he could be..

Lemme laugh first, hahahahahahaha. Choi! Nothing man pikin no go see for NL. Ahmed Musa again, issorait. Make I siddon dey wait World Cup

Nomski0: Ahmed who? Break out star in Brazil...... Jesu!
People are talking of better persons who are making their world cup debut e.g Neymar(my heartbeat), Higuian, that Belgium guy in Man u, and someone is mentioning Ahmed. .

You don't know fellani ...thought u were a devil's girl



Anyways, ahmed musa will be our own lennon and walcott combined.....he just needs some strong jazz

Nomski0:

I know fellani......it's that 18 year old Belgium dude with a weird name I'm referring to. The one who dives alot, just like Ronaldo used to in his early Manchester years.

Stop hyping Musa.....he's no where near Walcott.

Januzaj? Me sef dey wonder wetin Musa name dey find for list. Abeg if we aren't exposing someone like Iheanacho, make we just respect ourselves siddon for corner. Ahmed Musa? We have suffered

Nomski0:

I know fellani......it's that 18 year old Belgium dude with a weird name I'm referring to. The one who dives alot, just like Ronaldo used to in his early Manchester years.

Stop hyping Musa.....he's no where near Walcott.

That's januzaj, and that just means he's become like ronaldo....xept for the moving to madrid part


....and with special jazz, musa will/must be walcott 2.0