Enyeama's international future uncertain after captaincy is handed over to Ahmed Musa

SUPER Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama's international future remains uncertain after head coach Sunday Oliseh stripped him of the captaincy and handed the armband to winger Ahmed Musa following a bitter tow between them.

 

Over the last two days, preparations for the forthcoming friendly game against the Democratic Republic of Congo today have been overshadowed by the bitter dispute between Oliseh and Enyeama. Accusing the goalkeeper, who was team captain of a lack of commitment, Oliseh decided to name Musa as his new skipper.

 

This led to a bitter row between the two with Enyeama threatening to leave the camp but was eventually persuaded to stay by other players and Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) staff. Oliseh said the 22 year old Musa will have several years to feature for the country's national team as a captain.

He added that Musa did a great job for the team as captain in Tanzania when Enyeama was absent after being given leave to go and bury his mother. According to Oliseh, he believes he has named a very responsible player as leader of the Super Eagles.

 

Oliseh said: "As a coach I have looked at the team and I have looked at Nigeria going forward. We need a captain who will think of staying with Nigeria for several years to come, who is regularly in the front.

 

"Ahmed Musa did a great job for us in Tanzania under very difficult circumstance and he is a very responsible player and he is the captain of the team. The fact is that I would like to have somebody as captain who is thinking of playing now and not somebody who is preparing for retirement or thinking of after-football."

 

Vincent Enyeama, however, felt he had been treated disgracefully, stressing that he was stripped naked and thrown out of camp by security operatives. In addition, Enyeama, Nigeria's most capped player ever with 101 appearances accused Oliseh of insulting his dead mother.

Enyeama said: “After 13 years of national service, having this smile on my face and this passion in my heart, through the billows, the waves of the ocean, the tears of defeat, the sound of rejoicing from victory chants, now the thought of being stripped naked and security agents throwing me out breaks me completely. I will take anything but not insult to my dead mother.”

 

However, despite being stripped of the Eagles captaincy, Enyeama trained with the rest of the Eagles squad in Belgium yesterday. Contrary to some media reports, Enyeama did not quit camp after his fall-out with Oliseh but it is uncertain if he will remain with the team after the two games against DR Congo and Cameroon this week.