As the Super Eagles of Nigeria get set to take on Algeria in the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations William Troost-Ekong has spoken out about why he decided to play for Nigeria after representing Netherlands at youth level.
Ekong was born in Netherlands to Nigerian parents and he played for their youth teams in friendly games but didn’t make the squad to any international tournament or competitive games despite getting invited several to their youth camp.
In 2013 he was handed his debut by then coach of the Super Eagles Stephen Keshi who was looking to blood in new players after the team won the Africa Cup of Nations which was held in South Africa.
His decision to honour the call to play for Nigeria according to the Udinese defender who has played in all but one of Nigeria’s game at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations is due to the fact that he feels Nigeria wanted him most.
“My choice to play for Nigeria’s first national team wasn’t a hard one cause at that time I didn’t have the chance to play for the Dutch national team”, Ekong said.
“I know I won’t make any of my family proud playing for Netherlands, so I chose to be a part of the Nigerian National team. Now I think I made the right decision cause I played the Olympic games, the World Cup, and the AFCON and I had some great moments playing for Nigeria.
