Super Eagles defender, William Troost Ekong, is a major doubt for this month’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs against the Black Stars of Ghana.
Watford manager, Roy Hodgson, confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that the Nigerian suffered muscle strain and will miss Sunday’s clash against Arsenal.
“It’s a muscle strain,” said Hodgson. “It’s going to keep him out of the equation for the foreseeable future, but I don’t know how long exactly.
“It’s not a minor thing, it’s not a knock, it’s muscle strains, and that can take anything from a week to four weeks to recover from.”
Troost-Ekong was listed in the 30-man squad released by the Super Eagles interim manager, Augustine Eguavoen, on Friday for the World Cup playoffs.
Nigeria take on Ghana in the 20,000-capacity Cape Coast Sports Stadium as from 7:30pm on March 25, with the reverse leg set for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on March 29 as from 6pm.
The winner over two legs will earn one of Africa’s five tickets to the 22nd FIFA World Cup finals, scheduled for November 14 to December 18 this year in Qatar.