Injured Moses devastated as Eagles train in Houston

Victor Moses

Nigeria and Chelsea winger Victor Moses has said that he is devastated that he will be missing several matches with the Super Eagles in the coming weeks. Injury sustained in a Premier League game has ruled him out of upcoming matches for Nigeria starting with Friday’s friendly clash against Mexico in the United States.

Moses expressed his disappointment just as the Eagles had their first training in Houston, Texas on Wednesday ahead of the match against the Central Americans. After the match in Houston, the Eagles will travel to Kenya on June 5 and a week later they face Namibia in World Cup qualifiers before flying out to Brazil for the FIFA Confederations Cup which kicks off on the 15th.

The player, who is clearly one of those in the running for the next African Footballer of the Year award, made his view known through his Twitter handle on Wednesday. He tweeted, “Devastated not to be able to represent my country this summer but have to respect medical advice on injury. I’ll be supporting though #Nigeria.”

Moses, who made his Eagles debut against Rwanda in an African Nations Cup qualifier in 2011, was one of the star features of the Nigerian team as the country won its third Nations Cup in South Africa in February.

The Eagles arrived in the USA on Tuesday at 2.40pm local time after an 11-hour flight from Frankfurt, Germany and checked into the Westin Galleria hotel in West Alabama. They trained lightly on Tuesday evening and increased the tempo on Wednesday.

Ukraine-based forward Brown Ideye also joined the team almost immediately after they touched down. Ogenyi Onazi was also expected to join them soon after flying straight from Lagos following a short stopover in the country.

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi who spoke to the media on arrival at the Houston International Airport said, “We are here to give a good account of ourselves as a team and also as the champions of Africa. Definitely, we want to take a look at a couple of new players and see what they have to offer. But we take this match serious as it will prepare us for crucial encounters in the next few weeks.”

Nigeria and Mexico are featuring in the Confederations Cup tournament with Nigeria to play world and European champions Spain, South American champions Uruguay and Oceania champions Tahiti in Group B.

Mexico, in Group A, will clash with host Brazil and Italy as well as Asian champions Japan.