AFCON 2023: ‘It’s not nice to play’ – Williams Troost-Ekong fires warning to Bafana Bafana

Nigeria and South Africa will renew their rivalry on Wednesday when they take to the pitch in the first semifinal match at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The team’s assistant captain, Williams Troost-Ekong has explained why the Super Eagles are a difficult opponent for teams to play against in this tournament.

The defender was part of the team that crashed out of the semifinals in 2019. Back then, the Super Eagles had earlier defeated South Africa in the quarterfinals 2-1 thanks to a late-minute winner from Troost-Ekong.

However, with one goal from the defender so far in this edition of the tournament, he believes that Victor Osimhen’s presence in attack benefits the wide players making life difficult for teams.

According to him, the Napoli icon is “carrying a lot of weight” and occupying multiple defenders to create space for his strike partners to exploit which makes the side difficult to face.

“It’s not nice to play against Nigeria,” the stand-in captain in Cote d’Ivoire said per The Athletic.

“Victor Osimhen is carrying a lot of weight and maybe occupies two or three players at a time which creates a lot of space for Simon Moses and Ademola Lookman.”