William Troost-Ekong says he really enjoys playing with Kenneth Omeruo, a player he looked up to before making his Nigeria senior national team debut.
Following the absence of Rangers’ Leon Balogun due to injury worries, the England and Spain-based defenders have held sway in the Super Eagles’ backline at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
Against Egypt, they were in superb form to all halt the attacking forays of the Pharaohs led by Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Galatasaray’s Mostafa Mohamed.
Had Augustine Eguavoen’s men not conceded a goal in the 3-1 triumph over Sudan, Nigeria’s backline would have kept a clean slate after two matches.
Ahead of Wednesday’s fixture versus Guinea Bissau, the Watford star, while responding to a question from GOAL on his partnership with the 2013 Afcon winner, Troost-Ekong said: “He is a great player and I think he is a fantastic player.
“He was a player that I was looking up to before I even joined the Super Eagles because he had already won the Africa Cup of Nations at that time.
“I played together with him at the last Fifa World Cup. At the last Afcon (Egypt 2019), I think we played most of the games together with Kenneth as well.
“We have some other fantastic players as well like [Chidozie] Awaziem, and some other younger players here as well.
“It’s up to the coaches to make his selection. I enjoy playing with Kenneth and I think he is a fantastic defender, so it makes things easy.”
The pair are unlikely to play against the Djurtus at the Roumde Adjia Stadium as coach Eguavoen is expected to rejig his side against the West Africans.
Troost-Ekong confesses that his team has enjoyed a great deal of support from the people of Garoua while talking about what to expect from Eguavoen’s Eagles against Baciro Cande’s side.
“We have enjoyed playing here in Garoua and you can see, the team is very hungry to improve,” he continued.
“This is an amazing opportunity to continue to work on our team and play against a very good opposition.”
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