Super Eagles vice-captain, William Troost-Ekong has revealed that he couldn’t think twice when late coach Stephen Keshi asked him to play for Nigeria.
William Troost-Ekong who made his international debut for Nigeria in 2015 was born in the Netherlands to a Nigerian father and Dutch mother. He moved to the United Kingdom when he was 12 years old.
Troost-Ekong had the chance to play for the Netherlands national team as he was a youth international in the country.
However, he wasn’t invited to the national team as speedily as expected before he got a call from Keshi which he couldn’t resist.
Since he made his international debut on June 13, 2015, he has made 64 appearances in which he scored four goals in all competitions. The 30-year-old former Watford defender who is currently playing for a Greek club, PAOK, has grown to become the Eagles’ vice-captain.
“I watched a lot of football with my dad. He was always watching the Super Eagles, but growing up in Holland, I also dreamed about playing for the Dutch national team,” Troost-Ekong whose father is from Akwa Ibom state said.
“But when I got the phone call from Stephen Keshi at the time, who was a player and a legend who I watched growing up as a kid, especially as a central defender, I was kind of taken aback – and for him to ask me to play for Nigeria, I didn’t have to think twice.
“I think I said yes before I even had to think about anything or ask anyone because it just felt right, and I haven’t looked back since.”
Troost-Ekong has been one of the most important players for the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the ongoing 2023 AFCON. He scored the match-winner via a penalty kick against Ivory Coast on January 18.
Ahead of Nigeria’s last group stage game at the tournament, the defender claimed that Nigeria’s current national team is the best he has ever played in.
“If I look at the players we have now, I think it might be the best team I have played in for Nigeria”, he said.
“That is with all due respect to some of the legends that have been there.”
Troost-Ekong and his teammates will be in action at 6 p.m. this evening against Guinea-Bissau. If Nigeria win the game and Equatorial Guinea lose or draw against Ivory Coast, the Eagles will finish top in the group.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r63Io5innaeoe6S7zGhpaWpkZH1ye5FrZq2qn6TAtXnEpKann12nsrexwKWqZqCfrHqssdKhoGalkZmybrTIpmSppJGueqe70Walop%2BVp7aiecKao6WrXZjCs77Ep6tmq6WlsrN5xJqepZ2jYq%2Bmv9NmnK%2BdomQ%3D