Captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, William Troost-Ekong, has come to the defence of under-fire Stanley Nwabali following the goalkeeper’s blunders against Lesotho on Friday.
Nigeria beat Lesotho 2-1 at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane to keep their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier hopes alive.
A win against Benni in Uyo on Tuesday could secure them a place at the tournament taking place in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
NIGERIA LUCKY TO GET A WIN AGAINST LESOTHO IN POLOKWANE
However, the Super Eagles were lucky to get away with a win on Tuesday after two terrible mistakes from the Chippa United captain that resulted in Lesotho’s goal and a last-minute miss by the hosts.
In the first incident, Nwabali fumbled a cross, allowing Hlompho Kalake to score. With a few seconds remaining, Nwabali again fumbled the ball after a near-disastrous miscommunication with his defender, Semi Ajayi, which almost led to a second goal from Lesotho.
The mistakes led to some of the Super Eagles players not hiding their frustrations towards Nwabali after the match. The 29-year-old has also received heavy criticism from the Nigerian supporters on social media.
WHY NIGERIAN PLAYERS ARE FULLY BEHIND STANLEY NWABALI AFTER HIS ERRORS AGAINST LESOTHO
“The frustration was because we have such a big belief and we want to win every game,” said Troost-Ekong.
“When you are in a game and you want to score again and you concede, of course, people are not happy. It’s not one of the situations where we can point fingers at anyone. Every game we are in it together. Football is a game of mistakes. If there are no mistakes, there wouldn’t be any goals, but we fight for each other.
“So after the game, the beauty about this group is that we are very honest with each other. We spoke briefly about it for five minutes, and now we have finished, and everyone was happy with a point, and the main focus is on the next game. So we have to do it all together. There is frustration or singling out anyone.”
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