Troost-Ekong picks Enyeama, battles with Messi, Ronaldo in ultimate 5-a-side team

Damola Ogungbe 16:21 - 25.06.2022

Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong has selected former Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to guard the net as part of his ultimate Five-A-Side team. 

The Watford defender selected little-known Udinese defender Bram Nuytinck to marshal the defence, conveniently leaving himself out of the team. 

The Nigerian international went with Brazilian forward Neymar in attack and found a creative way around the Messi-Ronaldo debate for his five-a-side team.

As part of Watford's Dream Team series, the Hornets' players were asked to make a five-a-side team consisting of players they have either played with or played against during their careers.

Troost-Ekong chose Enyeama as the goalkeeper for his side despite playing only one match with the former Lille goalkeeper, the game being Troost-Ekong's debut for the Super Eagles on June 13, 2015, against Chad.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.ug/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

While choosing his team, the 28-year-old Nigerian international said: "I’m going to say Vincent Enyeama, the former Nigeria goalkeeper."

As the lone defender, Troost-Ekong went with his former Udinese teammate Nuytinck, citing the Dutch centre-back's leadership qualities.

"My friend; we played together at Udinese. He’s a good leader and a good player to play with. I look up to him," Troost-Ekong said.

Troost-Ekong then found a creative way to include both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in his five-a-side team, choosing to put the Paris Saint-Germain player in midfield while pairing Ronaldo with Brazilian trickster Neymar in the attack.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.ug/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Troost-Ekong explained his choices thus: "I’ll say Messi! I played against him at the 2018 World Cup. I’ll take Ronaldo and Neymar for my strikers. That’s not a bad team, is it?"

Troost-Ekong is expected to play in the English Championship with Watford this season after being relegated with them from the Premier League during the 2021/22 season.

Tags: