The reason behind the decision of the head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro to leave out the duo of Ahmed Musa and William Troost-Ekong from upcoming friendly games has been made known to OwnGoalNigeria.com.
Their names was conspicuously missing from the list of players made public by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ahead of the games against Saudi Arabia on the 13th of October and four days later against Mozambique in Portugal.
We gathered, the decision to leave out the captain and his vice of for different reasons. Ekong was left out as he appears to have lost the faith of Peseiro who has taken a liking for Semi Ajayi, because he fits his philosophy of trying to play from the back.
Ekong isn’t all that comfortable with the ball at his feet with some of the Super Eagles most comfortable wins under the coach coming in his absence. The Portuguese coach wants to build a new center defence partnership around Ajayi and Calvin Bassey.
For Musa, we reliably gathered that he was left out on his permission as he is still yet to get back to full fitness after recovering from the injury that has kept him out during the first game of the season for his Turkish side Sivasspor.
While Musa is sure of making the AFCON squad if he stays fit, the same can’t be said about Ekong as the duo of Jordan Torunarigha and Kenneth Omeruo are seen as better back up option to the anointed partnership of Bassey and Ajayi.
Ade Emmanuel
