The captain of the senior national team of Nigeria William Troost-Ekong yesterday announced his retirement from the senior national team of Nigeria, three weeks after calling such reports fake news when it was broken by a Nigerian journalist Mike_The Pundit on social media platform X.
Ekong as correctly called by the Nigerian journalist already told the players in the dressing room after the penalty defeat by Congo Dr in the world cup qualifiers playoff, denying them a ticket to represent Africa at the Intercontinental playoff in Mexico next year.
It was a case of going to the world cup if the team makes it before announcing his retirement or quit if they fail to make it, especially as he has been told by head coach Eric Chelle that he is not guaranteed to get games at the AFCON.
32 year old Ekong is entering the final year of his contract with Saudi Arabia side Al-Kholood and going to the AFCON, where he has been told he won’t get to play much will jeopardise his chances of getting a new deal at his club.
Already he saw the handwriting on the wall that he won’t be needed at the AFCON after head coach Eric Chelle picked Chidozie Awaziem ahead of him in the game against Dr Congo, when he made his final substitute with Ekong as the most viable choice with the game heading into shoot outs due to his reliance from the spot.
Chelle made up his mind on dropping Ekong after the friendly game against Russia, hence the bold decision to play a 19 year old in Benjamin Fredrick in a crucial world cup qualifiers game at home against Rwanda ahead of the captain.
Fredrick dropped a man of the match performance, justifying the decision of the coach who was opposed by senior players when he made the call.
He bowed to pressure and played Ekong in the next game against South Africa, but yanked him off after 45 minutes after his own goal handed South Africa the lead.
Three high profile errors in three straight start against Zimbabwe, Russia and South Africa respectively was all Chelle needed to bin him, although he started him against Lesotho with Semi Ajayi rested for the all important game against Benin Republic in Uyo, and the absence of Awaziem who is now back on the radar with his performances for Nantes.
Sources close to the team say Ekong felt Chelle sided with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) during the bonus row, which saw the team boycott training during the playoff. It further hastened his decision to quit now.
Ekong will be fondly remembered as the Oyibo boy who came in against all odds and rose to the position of captain of the team, and not for how it ended because everything in between that matters cements his spot as a Super Eagles legend.
He leaves international tournament on a high after winning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the last AFCON, where he played with a thorn hamstring picked up in the first game but battled on till the final where they lost 1-2 to Cote d’Ivoire. He scored Nigeria’s lone goal in that game with a looping header.
“Kaa di” skippo and thank you for the memories. You’ll always be remembered.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
