Eagles have foundation to build world champions, says Ekong

William Troost-Ekong was one of the outstanding players in Nigeria’s campaign at the just-concluded African Cup of Nations In Egypt.

The Italy-based defender played all of Nigeria’s seven matches, including the third place match in which the Super Eagles beat Tunisia 1-0 to win the bronze medal.

Aside the bronze, which is his second medal playing for Nigeria after his third place winner’s medal from the Rio Olympic Games, Troost-Ekong also found some positives in the composition of the team.

Nigeria’s squad to Egypt 2019 was the youngest among the 24 teams, a quality he says will bode well for the national team going forward.

“Youthfulness is the power of our team, we said we wanted to do something special with the AFCON and this is the first tournament after the World Cup.

“If you look at our team, the average age is 24 and that means we are still going to be able to play a lot more AFCON together and hopefully one or two more world cups. The future is bright,” he said.

With Skipper John Obi Mikel’s retirement, Ekong is now one of the most experienced players in the team.

The Udinese defender moved to the Super Eagles, alongside Etebo Oghenakaro, after the 2016 Olympics and has been a regular in the team since then.

He is expected to play a major role in the Super Eagles, which will soon begin the qualifying series for the Cameroun 2021 African Cup of Nations and the Qatar 2022 World Cup.