As many as five players of the senior national team of Nigeria have backed the decision of Emmanuel Dennis not to hand the ball to William Troost Ekong despite instructions from the coach.
Nigeria won a penalty during the course of the 0-4 defeat to Portugal, Dennis was told to hand the ball to Ekong by Jose Peseiro but the former Watford man insisted on taking the spot kick with scores at 0-2. He ended up missing and Portugal went ahead to score two more goals within a space of two minutes.
Reacting to the incident, one of the players said it’s normal to have such kind of situation and it isn’t enough to crucify Dennis because any player could have also missed. ” It happens all the time. It’s unfortunate that he missed it but he is among one of our best penalty takers, so no problem with insisting on taking it”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
Another player said, the entire issue is been blown out of proportion as they didn’t see it the way many took it. ” I’m not sure many people understood the essence of the game. It’s a friendly game and the incident is normal not the way it is being reported by the press”, he said.
A new player in the team also said the entire team didn’t fault Dennis because it wasn’t like he deliberately missed the penalty. ” He didn’t pick up the ball to miss. His intention was to score and it’s unfortunate he didn’t. I’m a new player in the team and I can tell you that not even one person faulted him. It’s normal”, he rounded up saying.
