Former Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong has revealed his only regret with the Nigerian National team after drawing the curtain on his international career, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 32-year-old has seen his position in the Super Eagles starting lineup diminish slowly with the rise of Benjamin Frederick, and prior to the World Cup play-offs, he harboured the goal of representing Nigeria at another World Cup after playing in Russia seven years ago.
While he was included in Eric Chelle’s 55-man preliminary AFCON squad, he chose to bow out just two weeks before the tournament in Morocco.
Ekong relishes experience as a Nigerian footballer
Upon his retirement announcement, the Holland-born Nigerian revealed that what he’s achieved so far in the green and white colours was something he never thought possible.
“I would dream big, bigger than other people believed in me or thought was possible,” Troost-Ekong told Standard Sport.
“But to go in this direction with Nigeria, and be part of everything I have, I would not have been able to write it down. I’ve managed to live beyond my wildest dreams.”
“You always want things to end perfectly. It’s hard when you are watching the last minutes of the game. It felt like a blur.
“I remember sitting there and absorbing those last minutes, because you know that could be it. To have that in a penalty shootout, my heart was pounding like crazy.
“It was heartbreaking, but at the same time, I felt really proud in that moment of everything we had achieved. To be there, as captain, was something I could not have dreamt of as a young kid.”
AFCON, World Cup regrets
Ekong’s final 90-minute game came in Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Lesotho in October, a game where he scored his 8th goal for the Super Eagles.
Since then, he only got minutes off the bench, but he was left on the sidelines in Nigeria’s penalty shoot-out loss to DR Congo in the World Cup play-offs.
Given the recession of minutes, the former Watford man confessed to having sleepless nights about his continuity in the team, and even some of his teammates talked him out of bowing out.
Ultimately, he made the final decision when he felt the team’s leadership would be in good hands without him. Although he mentioned he feels a bit let down about not lifting the AFCON trophy with the Super Eagles.
“Now is the moment for them to claim that. I think there is a natural progression, and there is an art in knowing when to step away.
“Selfishly, I would have loved to lift the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and play at one more World Cup.
“But the thing that has given me the most joy now is that I get messages from young boys saying they want to play for the Super Eagles.
“They say they look up to me. Those are things you don’t start playing football for, but once they happen, they give you a real sense of pride.”
Ademola Lookman was born in Wandsworth, Ola Aina in Southwark, and although Alex Iwobi was born in Lagos, he grew up in Newham and came through Arsenal’s academy.
The inclusion of foreign-born talent into the Nigerian team over the years has been on the increase, and the defender wants more of the same to continue in his absence.
“There has never been a lack of talent. Ademola Lookman went on to be African Player of the Year – that is something.
“Boys are coming from London, Berlin, Amsterdam and all over Europe.
“They’re coming home to represent Nigeria, and that is only going to strengthen Nigerian football.
“That is something that can be built on – and it needs to be explored,” Ekong concluded.
Ekong’s decision to retire comes at a time where Nigeria will be without Benjamin Frederick in the heart of the defence heading into the AFCON tournament.This limits the experienced centre-back pairing available to Eric Chelle to Semi Ajayi and Calvin Bassey.
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