William Troost-Ekong has revealed that discord between him and former Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro nearly cost him a place in Nigeria’s squad to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Troost-Ekong was benched in Nigeria’s final AFCON 2023 qualifying fixture against Sao Tome and Principe in September.
The centre-back was totally omitted from the squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Lesotho and Zimbabwe the following month.
The PAOK defender was also not included in the squad for the international friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique.
Troost-Ekong however make the squad for the AFCON 2023 finals.
He ended up playing a crucial role for the Super Eagles in Cote d’Ivoire, netting three times and claiming Player of the Tournament.
The centre-back was also benched in the team’s previous outing against Sao Tome and Principe in October.
“[It] resulted in us not actually speaking for a few months,” Troost-Ekong told CNN World Sport.
“That was the time where my pride and ego, I think maybe got the better of me. I thought about stopping.
“Thankfully, I’ve got a good group of people around me who took me out of it.
“[It] made me think about my younger self and, how much it meant and how proud I was to play my first game [for Nigeria].
“I deserved to give my younger self a better ending. So that was the thing that changed my mind … I think my career has always been a testament of not giving up.”
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COMMENTS
You were dope at the 2023 AFCON. A silware well deserved. So much in the SE that we fans need know to help you speak out against, but you guys lock up until after the mess is gone down the pants.
Help us to help you and our darling SE
A Coach whose best performing players in a tournament are those he picked by Force is not a good Coach anywhere anyday peiserrio I’d not a good Coach
Well deserved Afcon accolade but u must thank iwobi n co who sacrifice there position to help u become d hero and they d scape goats
Is that man a coach?, you all should thank the Almighty that,that wasn’t a wold cup, He saw what was coming at him.
A coach that can assemble a team that can score he only win a match with an own goal or penalty
If the US 96 with out an organized scoring team, they wouldn’t have defeated a like Agentina or Brazil
Unable to 2 or 3 goals in a game was what denied the cup for Nigeria while Nff was celebrating a man who couldn’t put up a demolishing team. The 96 team was it not a coach that assembled and trained that team killer?
And Africa best team at d last world cup been play 2 score 3 goals per match abi?
D problem we get 4 dis country na say pesin go see sometin come say anoda tin. Make we dey try dey honest.
I still maintain, good riddance to a very bad rubbish.