William Troost-Ekong, the vice captain of the Super Eagles, has added his name to the team’s growing list of injuries as Nigeria gears up for their second international friendly match against Algeria in five days.
The Eagles were thwarted to a 2-2 tie against Algeria’s domestic national team on Friday. The Eagles’ Algerian training tour will come to an end tomorrow with a game versus the Fennecs’ first team.
Troot-Ekong, who on the field for the first time on Friday, sustained an injury that forced him to leave the team entirely.
Troost-Ekong wrote via his twitter handle to confirm his forced departure from the remainder of the tour due to injury: “Unfortunately picked up something in our game yesterday. I’m going back home to deal with it. Best wishes for the lads on Tuesday.
Since moving to Watford from Udinese in the summer of 2020, the 29-year-old defender has made just 54 appearances across all competitions for the Hornets due to injury.
Only three of those came this season, when he has typically been used as a substitute, following a summer transfer window in which he remained at Vicarage Road amid rumours of a transfer to Turkey.
Troost-Ekong hasn’t played frequently for Rob Edwards’ team this year, but he has still demonstrated on numerous times that he is a more than capable alternative for the Hornets.
Troost-withdrawal Ekong’s was also verified by the Super Eagles via twitter. ‘William Troost-Ekong has departed camp due to an injury sustained during yesterday’s test game’ (Friday). He has returned to base for more inspections. Ekong, we wish you a swift recovery,’ the squad added.
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Troost-Ekong is the next injured player who will be unable to travel with the Super Eagles to Algeria. Wilfred Ndidi, who departed the team in Algeria after suffering a recurrence of an old injury, is also listed among the wounded.
The others are Henry Onyekuru, Samuel Chukwueze, Victor Osimhen, Sadiq Umar, and Captain Ahmed Musa.
The home-based Super Eagles were scheduled to play on Friday, but due to the CHAN team’s failure to advance to the competition scheduled to take place in the North African nation, preparations had to be changed.
The game tomorrow will start at 8:00 p.m. at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran. Time in Nigeria.
Africa Daily News, New York
