Ex-international Vincent Enyeama has backed Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa to make 140 appearances for the national team.
Musa, currently with 98 caps would have completed his 100th games for the country in the World Cup qualifiers against Liberia and Cape Verde last week but had two of the games he featured in not recognised by world body FIFA.
However, Enyeama, in an interview with ESPN, said he was confident that Musa would reach the landmark soon and go on to make 130 caps for Nigeria.
He said, “If he (Musa) is in good health, I think Musa can get up to 130 caps. He is doing well; he is the captain of the team. With the time he has, he can still get up to 40 more games for the country, comfortably.
“Musa is a top player. I want him to make 130-140 easy. Musa can comfortably play two AFCONs and that is 12 games already. Then another set of qualifiers. And another World Cup to crown it off. He can achieve it without any push.”
The former Lille goalkeeper however expressed displeasure at the number of centurions the country had produced.
He added, “It is a big shame because with the quality we have in Nigeria we should have more. That shows that there is a lack of continuity, consistency, commitment on the part of the players and management.
“Look at other top football countries, you will find that many of their players, active and retired, have more than 100 caps. But we have players in Nigeria playing 10 to 15 years and still don’t get up to 100 caps because these coaches come in and change players all the time.
“Players like Jay Jay (Okocha), Peter Rufai, (Nwankwo) Kanu deserve to have more than 100 caps. It is sad that Mikel could not get up to 100 because he was very close to it. Going forward, we need to do better. We need more players to get there.”
Enyeama, alongside compatriot Joseph Yobo, are the county’s only men’s footballers to reach the 100-cap milestone.