Players of the Super Eagles of Nigeria have told head coach Eric Chelle to hand a recall to Rangers defender Leon Balogun largely due to his experience following the 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe in Uyo on Tuesday.
Balogun last played for the team two years ago no thanks to his poor form at club level in the past, but he has showed glimpses of his best at Scottish side Rangers this season.
The 36 year old has played a total of 23 games in all competitions this season. A sign of how well he has maintained his physical shape since shaking off the injuries and fitness issues that slowed him down for almost two years.
Despite his impressive form this season he wasn’t called up by Chelle for the world cup qualifiers games against Rwanda and Zimbabwe respectively, with Nigeria winning 2-0 in Kigali before drawing 1-1 at home against Zimbabwe on Tuesday.
They conceded late in the game with captain William Troost-Ekong guilty of letting his man go past him easily. The goal further compounded the chances of Nigeria making it to the world cup next year leaving some players unhappy with the players selection for the game.
” We needed a defender and our coach didn’t have much faith in Igho Ogbu who is new in the team and Jordan Torunarigha who was called up as a replacement for Nathan Tella. At that stage you needed a player of Leon Balogun experience”, a player of the team said at the airport before departing from his base.
” You can ask the other players. We all felt the same way after the game. Granted that Balogun probably can’t play two games in four days, but he can help us see out games in crucial moments like on Tuesday. We saw Jose Peseiro used Kenneth Omeruo at the AFCON when we needed to close a game down”, he concluded.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
