The vice captain of the senior national team of Nigeria William Troost-Ekong was conspicuously missing from the list of players called up by head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro for the upcoming world cup qualifiers.
Nigeria will take on Lesotho and Zimbabwe on the 16th and 19th of November respectively as they begin the race to be at the 2026 World Cup. Their aim is to start on a sound note after the disappointment of losing out on a spot in the previous edition of the tournament.
Peseiro called up eight defenders for the games but left once again left out Ekong , he was also not called up for the friendly games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively last month. As a matter of fact he hasn’t played in their last three games with the duo of Semi Ajayi and Calvin Bassey now the preferred duo.
Kenneth Omeruo is seen as back up to any of the aforementioned duo and despite the decision not to call Jordan Torunarigha who made his debut in the game against Mozambique, the coach didn’t look the way of Ekong rather he handed a recall to Chidozie Awaziem.
Awaziem hasn’t been involved in any competitive game for the team in over a year but his form for Boavista plus his ability to play in more than one role across the back line has helped him to force his way back into contention with the AFCON looming.
OwnGoalNigeria.com exclusively gathered that unlike Awaziem , Ekong who is a regular for Greek side PAOK might not play for the team again under Peseiro with the coach unimpressed with his inability to play from the back.
The coach want to play defenders, who will help the team build from deep as they aim to dominate possession in all games, something that Ekong isn’t comfortable with and when he was dropped for two straight games, he reacted poorly especially in the game against Sao Tome and Principe where we gathered that he confronted the coach.
His exclusion from the last two games is Peseiro’s way of stamping his authority on the team and sending a message to all the players that no act of indiscipline will be tolerated while he is in charge. There are fears that Ekong might not get a look in as long as he remains as coach.
Ade Emmanuel