Watford of England defender, William Troost-Ekong has raised the ante ahead of Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin Republic, as he has declared that he and his colleagues in Nigeria’s national team are ready to work, megasportsarena.com reports.
He admitted how happy he is with the Super Eagles’ reunion in Lagos, where the camp opened on Monday and full training began Tuesday, as the players prepare to battle Benin Republic away in Porto Novo on Saturday and then return home to host Lesotho in their last game of the 2022 AFCON qualifiers on Tuesday.
Though it is only a single point that the three-time African champions need to qualify with a match to spare for Cameroon 2022, Troost-Ekong is enthusiastic that the Nigerian squad will snatch victory in both matches.
While acknowledging that he is happy to be back with his colleagues in the Eagles’ camp, the former Tottenham Hotspur of England, Haugesund of Norway, Dordrecht of Holland, KAA Gent of Belgium, Bursaspor of Turkey and Udinese of Italy stopper added a call to duty for them all.
In a move that matched action with words, Troost-Ekong was among the earliest arrivals at the Eagles’ camp in Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, as he joined team captain, Ahmed Musa along with four others on Sunday, as the squad gathered ahead of Thursday’s trip to Benin Republic.
The squad will also battle Lesotho at home next week Tuesday in their final game of the race to Cameroon 2022, ahead of which Musa and Troost-Ekong were joined in camp by the England-based duo of Ola Aina and Semi Ajayi as well as Galatasaray of Turkey pair of Oghenekaro Etebo and Henry Onyekuru.
Aina and Troost-Ekong were in action for their clubs on Friday and Saturday respectively, but Ajayi has been inactive for over one month due to injury and suspension, with his last appearance coming against Burnley on February 20.
On the other hand, Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr hinted that he only gave a ‘ceremonial’ call-up to Musa, who is currently unattached after a much-expected move to Ajayi’s club, West Bromwich Albion of England fell through last month.
Nonetheless, Troost-Ekong pointed out that they are all happy to be back together and quickly declared their determination to reach Cameroon 2022 with a game to spare, as he led the battle cry ahead of the trip to Nigeria’s nearest West Coast neighbours.
He was also among the lot that hit the well-equipped gym at Eko Hotel for a recovery session on Monday, ahead of the commencement of full team training at Teslim Balogun Stadium the next morning, when the full ensemble of invited players were expected to have arrived in camp.
A motley of newly invited home-based players were on hand to join Troost-Ekong and his array of colleagues from overseas, as Rohr hurriedly moved to replace Moses Simon, Sadiq Umar and Kenneth Omeruo, who that had not been allowed to travel out of their various bases in Europe by worried clubs on account of COVID-19 restrictions.
Enyimba’s goalkeeper, John Noble was the only player from the domestic league included in his 24-player roster before the spate of withdrawals forced Rohr to extend invites to Abia Warriors of Umuahia defender, Adekunle Adeleke and Enyimba of Aba striker, Anayo Iwuala.
Despite the hic-cups and hasty alterations in Rohr’s original plans for the two upcoming games, Troost-Ekong is staying upbeat for victory away and at home, but acknowledged that the team has to quickly get down to business and start working hard in order to get the results they want.
The Eagles’ vice-captain, who has gone the distance in all of the team’s four matches of the 2022 AFCON qualifiers and started with the skipper’s band twice, admitted it will not be easy against The Squirrels his Saturday in Porto Novo.
The three-time African champions are currently top of Group L in the qualifiers after back-to-back wins against The Squirrels and Crocodiles in November 2019, but Troost-Ekong, who looks set to wear Nigeria’s captain’s band again on Saturday, admitted he and his colleagues cannot afford to take their feet off the pedal.
“We are taking these games very seriously, but it’s not going to be as easy as saying and just doing that, we have to really work hard because when we played against Benin in Uyo it was a very difficult game and they have got a good team.
“The same thing for Lesotho when we played away there, even though we played well in the end, it was difficult at the start. It’s going to be two hard games but we are going to go for the maximum,” Troost-Ekong submitted.
