Super Eagles Style Similar To Oranje’s: Udinese’s William Troost Ekong

The Nigeria international has played across several countries in Europe and sees similarities between the three-time African champions and the 1988 European champions.

Udinese defender William Troost Ekong has compared the Super Eagles playing style with that of the Netherlands, though he admits the team has had to adapt to their opponents and other such factors at times.

The former Fulham and Tottenham trainee made his international debut for Nigeria in 2015 despite his eligibility to play for the Netherlands as well.

Presently the vice-captain of the Gernot Rohr-led Eagles, Troost-Ekong can count on the experience of playing in England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway

Still just 26, the Haarlem-born centre-back has already featured for Nigeria at three major tournaments – the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 African Cup of Nations.

As one of the Super Eagles’ most experienced players, Troost-Ekong revealed to TactAlyse the reasoning behind the national team coaches’ tactics and formations in recent times.

“There are not really specific aspects that characterize our way of playing,” said the defender.

“It looks a lot like the Dutch style of play, but our manager also pays attention to the qualities of the players and the circumstances that we play in. In Africa, you sometimes play on very bad pitches where it is hard to build up from the back.

“There has also been a period where we played 3-5-2 with players such as Victor Moses, who played as a wing-back at their own club. He played on the right side, and on the left, we also had a player who did that at his own club.

“As a result, our system was adapted to the players at that time, because it was appropriate in that situation.”