Super Eagles: Troost-Ekong Hails Teammates For Their Efforts Against Ivory Coast

Super Eagles of Nigeria captain, William Troost-Ekong has praised the efforts his teammates put in to grab a vital win against the hosts of the 2023 AFCON, Ivory Coast on Thursday, January 18.

The Super Eagles scored the match-winner at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan in the 55th minute as Troost-Ekong stepped up to convert a spot-kick after Victor Osimhen was fouled in the penalty box.

Ahead of the game, Coach José Peseiro made two changes to the starting lineup that drew 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea on Monday: Calvin Bassey was selected in place of the injured Alhassan Yusuf, while Samuel Chuwueze was chosen ahead of Moses Simon.

In the second minute of the game, Frank Onyeka had the opening chance, but his attempt went wide after Zaidu Sanusi and Alex Iwobi exchanged passes to set up the Brentford midfielder.

Victor Osimhen wasted the best opportunity of the first half, failing to beat Ivorians’ goalkeeper Yahia Fofana after Chukwueze’s superb through ball sent him through on goal.

Ten minutes into the second half, Troost-Ekong scored a penalty which ended up as the match-winner.

The 1-0 win over Ivory Coast has pushed the Super Eagles of Nigeria to the second spot in Group A, and the hosts have moved down to the third spot ahead of their last group stage game against Equatorial Guinea on January 22.

After the 1-0 win, Troost-Ekong said: “We wanted to win the first game but we couldn’t. This was an important game for us to show what we are capable of and I’m really proud of the boys and we deserved to win.

“We know we were playing against a quality team, especially at their home here. But we had to do more, we had to fight more. I think we have so much quality but we have to earn the right to win and this is a performance we can all be proud of.”