Ekong says Eagles could boycott matches if racially abused in Russia

Super Eagles defender William Troost-Ekong speaks of the team spirit in Eagles’ camp ahead of next month’s FIFA World Cup, asserting that the entire Nigerian team could go as far as boycotting a match if any of them is offended in Russia.

The Turkey-based footballer says if any player in the Nigerian team is racially abused in Russia and no longer wants to play, the rest of the squad will fall into line behind him.

Russia, host of the 21st edition of the global showpiece, is a country known for racism issues and Troost-Ekong, aware that Nigerian players could be subject to such incident, is certain that the team will surely take a stand.

“We haven’t openly spoken about it in the team,” the 24-year old was quoted to have said in an interview published on The Guardian, UK on Sunday.

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“Everyone is aware of it but I don’t think until that moment, if it were to come, that you can prepare for something like that.

“I think if we felt in any way that there was very apparent racism which everyone would be uncomfortable with, if anyone said: ‘We’re not going to play,’ then the team would make a unanimous decision. We have a great team spirit so if one player said they didn’t want to play, everyone would stick with that.”

Super Eagles have been in camp ahead of Monday’s international friendly with DR Congo at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt. They are also billed to face England on June 2 before playing Czech Republic to conclude their preparations for the World Cup.

Ahead of the England game, the former Tottenham Youth ace said, “it’ll be nice to play against Harry [Kane] again after all these years.”

“It will be a bit of a homecoming seeing as I spent some time in England and I have such strong ties in England. And quite a lot of the team play in England and so many Nigerians live in England, so it will be a nice atmosphere,” he added.

Ekong also admitted that Nigeria was drawn in a difficult group in the World Cup but is confident that the Eagles can replicate their feat during the qualifiers during which they conquered African giants Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia.

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