Former Super Eagles striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni has leapt to the defense of William Troost-Ekong, who has faced heavy criticism in recent weeks amid calls for him to retire from international football.

Aiyegbeni, who himself endured widespread backlash for his infamous open-goal miss at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, urged Nigerians to stop blaming individual players for the team’s struggles.

He stressed that Troost-Ekong is not responsible for the country’s difficult qualification campaign.

“We’re talking about me missing a goal. Now everyone is talking about the captain, Ekong.

“He scored an own goal. So what? He didn’t mean to score that own goal. It happens,” Aiyegbeni said.

“We Nigerians, we have to understand. We are always waiting to put blame on one or two players. Oh, it’s because of this guy we did not qualify for the World Cup. But that’s not the case.”

The former Everton forward insisted that Troost-Ekong remains a leader in the Super Eagles squad and should not be scapegoated.

Instead, he criticized the team’s playing style, which he described as overly dependent on moments of individual brilliance rather than collective performance.

Also read: NFF Denies Authorizing Scathing Report Targeting Dessers, Ekong

“This boy, Ekong, is a leader in that team. He made mistakes, yes. South Africa passed the ball better than us.

“We cannot even put six or seven passes together. When we try to play, we just end up kicking it long,” Aiyegbeni lamented.

“We say we want to build a team, but you cannot build a team like this. We don’t play as a unit; we rely on individual magic. We expect Ademola Lookman to make magic, we expect Victor Osimhen to make magic.

“That is not how to build a successful team.”

The Super Eagles captain had been subjected to cyberbullying alongside Cyriel Dessers following the game against South Africa from both the media and the public.

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