Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong has shed more light on his altercation with former coach Jose Peseiro, admitting that he was not on talking terms with the Portuguese gaffer months before the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast.
Earlier in February, while the AFCON was ongoing, Troost-Ekong revealed how he considered walking away from international football following disagreements with Peseiro, before he was called up for the competition. And he ended up as tournament MVP with three goals, bringing his entire AFCON haul to five goals in three editions, the highest by any defender at the continental showpiece.
Charged with rallying a team left reeling from the disappointment of failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Troost-Ekong was concerned with how he was being treated by the Portuguese manager.
In an interview with CNN, the 30-year-old said he didn’t speak with the Portuguese for months.
“It resulted in us not actually speaking for a few months”, the defender told CNN World Sport’s Amanda Davies.
“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”.
Despite featuring for The Netherlands at the youth level before eventually choosing to represent his father’s homeland where he made his international debut in 2015, Troost-Ekong admitted that subsequent discussions with family and friends cast his mind back to when he made his first appearance for the country.
“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”, he said.
“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”.
Before he was called up for the AFCON, Troost-Ekong’s last game for Nigeria was the pre-World Cup friendly against Portugal in November 2022, which the Eagles lost 4-0. After that, he was an unused substitute twice, for the AFCON qualifying games against Sierra Leone in June and São Tomé e Principe in September. He was then omitted from the squad in October and November friendlies.
Upon his return to the team, Troost-Ekong led Nigeria’s defence line at the AFCON tournament as the team finished second after losing 2-1 to Ivory Coast in the final.
The POAK defender was crowned the Player of The Tournament after scoring three goals in the tournament.
