A winner of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations with the senior national team of Nigeria Efe Ambrose says the team still need the experience and guidance of 36 year old defender Leon Balogun, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Balogun hasn’t played for Nigeria since 2022 and after getting his club career back on track, Ambrose who says he watches the defender for Scottish side Rangers urged the national team selectors to look his way owing to the position of the team in the 2026 world cup qualifiers.
Nigeria are presently 5th in their world cup qualifiers group after drawing 1-1 with South Africa and losing 1-2 to Benin Republic. The qualifiers for the AFCON begins in September and Ambrose feels there is a need to bring back the 36 year old who has 45 caps for the team.
He said Balogun’s experience is still needed and will help the team as a whole considering that he was the main stay of the defence that secured the ticket for the 2018 World Cup by forming a strong partnership with William Troost-Ekong which was dubbed the “Oyibo Wall”.
” I think Balogun can be what Pepe is to Portugal for the Super Eagles. He is still very relevant here at Rangers and highly regarded and players like that are needed when a team is in a dire situation like that of the Super Eagles at the moment”, he said from his base in Scotland.
” You can’t take it away from Balogun that was he was key to the team qualifying for the 2018 World Cup with a game to spare. The famous Oyibo Wall with Ekong was a thing. You don’t let a player of that nature , mentality and quality go like that especially when he is still active”.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
