Super Eagles defender, William Troost-Ekong has revealed that the duo of Alex Iwobi and Leon Balogun advised him not to retire from the senior national team prior to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ekong, who played a key part in the team’s progress to the final of the tournament, where Nigeria lost 2-1 to Ivory Coast, told CNN World Sport’s Amanda Davies that Iwobi and Balogun motivated him before the competition.
The PAOK star shared that discussions with Alex Iwobi and Leon Balogun led him to reminisce about his early days with the Super Eagles, particularly the pride he felt making his debut under the late Stephen Keshi.
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“I spoke with some of the players I have been with [in the national team] for a long time. For example Alex Iwobi, Leon Balogun,” the former Watford star said.
“They all said that they thought it would be a real shame. They felt I still have a lot to give, which made me think about my younger self [When I first made my debut for the team]. It gives my younger self a better end.”
“So that was what changed my mind really.”
21 Comments
No Ekong, Mr 2023 AFCON’s best player, you are the worst CB Nigeria has ever had, at the age of 30, you are beyond your peak, you must be retired to give “younger players” a chance…LMAOo. Younger players like players like Ndah our PSL Rockstar who was smuggled into the last AFCON squad by his Godfather Eguavoen and Awaziem who has been to 3 afcons and still can’t earn a shirt at CB.
You are blocking their chance. You must be forced out of the national team without hesitation pls.
Thank God none of them are anywhere ose to our national teams.
Mr drey the afcon president I they hail your foolishness ooo.
Ekong one leg better pass all the play way you they call.
I thought this guy was afcon best player of the tournament? What is grey ranting about? I think as of today, no backman is as good as ekong. We don’t know more than caf, do we? Many people are saying that troost ekong tried. I think there’s another thing this drey guy is not telling us. What is your take guys.
Are u minding that narcist.
Dear @Esse, can’t you see the sarcasm and humour behind @Dr Drey’s comment? Abeg soften up my brother, @Dr Drey was only teasing the critics of our dear Captain fantastic
To be honest I gave Dr. Grey thumb finger that guy know football verywell our CB can’t run he only good on air Semi Ajayi cover him too much Ndah from Orlando pirates can play that role very well
I noticed that people commenting here very few are neutral just saying the way it’s , saying the truth. Most are paid to come here and front their paid masters so that they can be given opportunity in the national team. Reason you see comments with a lot of sentiment.
How on earth will someone discredit Ekong with glaring scintillating top notch performance in the last afcon which earned the guy MVP of the tournament, in attempt to front Ndah for the position.
Is it not ridiculous? How much is Ndah paying you Dr. Drey to go against popular choice including CAF position? Ekong is active and still vibrant with so much leadership qualities in him.
If you are fighting Troost Ekong who is still active and delivering for younger players what will you do to Ahmed Musa the perpetual bench warmer captain whose sole aim of going to the tournament was to keep extending his Caps as most Capped player but couldn’t play a single match?
Na waooo people!!!!!!
Guy, calm down and read Dr Drey’s comment again. He is only making fun of Troost Ekong’s critiques
Guys, Dr. Drey is being sarcastic.
Come on, read his post, and you will see the sarcasm dripping all over it.
He is really saying Ekong has been unfairly criticized and ridiculed for a long time, and with his Afcon performance, he has served a lot of pipo HUMBLE PIE. Hot one.
However, I beg to defer on Ndah, who I think has potential to be quite good. For him to be so highly rated in SA, he has to be decent. This is the same SA league Nwabali plays in. So, we know that good quality can be found over there.
I’ve watched Ndah, and I think he is quite decent. If invited, he will be a good addition to the squad. It’s not about whether he is better than Ekong or anyone else. It’s about having a deep bench. Having quality options for the coach to choose from.
Another CB we need to be looking at is Tosin. He really impressed me today. How far with his international switch? We could use a defender of his quality.
When you read the comments of average OBIDIOTS,.you will know from a distance. Always one way traffic. How on earth 4 people at a row didn’t see or couldn’t decipher that @DR DREY was being sarcastic here tells the whole story. A new person on this forum knows he’s one of those who have consistently backed TROOST EKONG and so ordinarily, should know he wasn’t writing against the player.
No one actually cares if he is being sarcastic.
@Dr.Drey… can you please give us the current stats of Ahmed Musa’s caps in the national team?
It’s very clear that Dr. Drey was just being ironic and philosophical about Ekong – how some would prefer Ndah to Ekong in their analysis – he wasn’t castigating Ekong in any way…. just read between the lines. However, I think Ndah and Tosin
Adebiorioye will be a great addition to the defence line…
Lmao!!! Dr Drey thank goodness non of them are anywhere near our national team. Lemaooo!!!! Ekong serves them hot humble pie. He’s now in the upper echelon of great SuperEagles defenders. Ọmọ as e Dey pain then E Dey sweet Ekong. Lmao!!
If the likes of Adarabioyo and Okoli chooses Nigeria including Osho of Luton Nigeria will be spoilt for choice in defense. The likes of Igoh Ogbu and Benjamin Fredrick can also break into the team at any time. I will advise Ndah to at least move to an European team to be relevant even if it’s Cyprus.
Lol like I have always been saying
All those Ahmed Musa Pushers and Fraudsters can you people see the importance of having your leaders lead from the front????? Can you see.
It is actually time for Musa to leave SE now he did well by helping on side lines but my we have enough leaders on the field.
EKONG, NDIDI, OSIMHEN AND NWABALI…
THANKS
Ekong is our best and still 100% active
When you read some response u will now understand why we r where we r today from buhari to tinubu tossing osibanjo aside it’s crystal Nigerians like wuruwuru and the only thing uniting us is corruption and football
My views about William Troost Ekong hasn’t changed: he is still an error-prone centre back now has the propensity to be a liability.
That said, he brought he A+ game to this Afcon and Nigeria benefitted from it.
Ekong himself came out to say that he was considering quitting from the national team due to how Peseiro had overlooked him leading up to the tournament.
Against Portugal Ekong scored an own goal and he struggled badly under Peseiro’s erstwhile 4-2-4 formation. If truth be told, even Akpoguma, Bassey and Uzoho suffered massively under this loose formation.
I really never thought Ekong will be a first team member in the Afcon tournament because I thought Peseiro had settled on Ajayi-Bassey combo. But the Portuguese gaffer showed how flexible he can be in reinstating Ekong to the starting line up after the own goal against Portugal and some unimpressive displays against Sierra Leone in Afcon qualifiers.
Even Ekong himself had started doubting his own abilities and continued relevance to the team before being encouraged by his teammates.
“They (my colleagues) all said that they thought it would be a real shame (if I left the team). They felt I still have a lot to give…. That encouragement made me change my mind.” Said Ekong paraphrased.
Ekong must have been hell bent to prove Peseiro and his critics like myself wrong in this tournament and he blew us all out of the park with barnstorming and a Rock star performance.
His pre-assist against Equatorial Guinea , his hard nose penalty against South Africa, his powerful headed goal against Ivory Coast and his many goal saving interceptions: Ekong was truly deserving of his player of the tournament award.
But, can he sustain that level of performance? What happens when Nigeria go back to playing 2 centre backs?
I respect Ekong and how he upped his game to achieve greatness in the just concluded Afcon.
However, the scrutiny he was subjected to before Afcon will be reignited if the own goals and inadequate markings from Ekong resurface.
Deo
Please name a defender past or present that has not made one mistake or the other. Keshi made a mistake that got us knocked out by Ghana in the semi final of 92 Afcon. Taribo West was beaten by the chest of Denmark Sand at 98 wc. Is it the great Baresi, Maldini or who that has not made a mistake
Mercy,
It depends on your definition of mistake and the defenders’ propensity to error.
For me, all defenders, all goalkeepers, all players have occasional lapses in concentration.
But, for a player (like Ekong and England’s Harry Maguire) to be labelled as “error proned” there has to be identified pattern over a given period.
Ekong has demonstrated a pattern of high profile errors every other season since 2018.
2018 – Rugby tackle against Croatia.
2019 – Own goal against Algeria
2021 – miscommunication against CAR
2022 – own goal against Portugal.
To mention a but a few…..