‘The World Will See What We are Made of in Russia’- Leon Balogun

Gangling Super Eagles defender, Leon Balogun still can’t believe he is going to the World Cup and is still caught up in all the euphoria.


“I can’t describe how I feel,” the Mainz FC of Germany defender said. “It is unbelievable. It’s probably going to my first and only World Cup, so I still need time to realise that I am going to play with the best players in the world. I need time to realise what this means.”

Yet, the light-skinned muscle of the Super Eagle’s defence isn’t feeling intimidated by the prospect and insists the Super Eagles aren’t going to Russia for tourism and to count the number of domes on the Kremlin.

“We are going to be competing for glory against the best in the world as the World Cup, not to make up the numbers. We have shown our determination in this qualifying campaign and are sure that it the world will see the stuff we are made of in Russia,’’ Balogun said.

The former Hannover FC defender who was born in Germany to a Nigerian father and German mother has, together with fellow light-skinned defender, Troost-Ekong, formed a solid bulwark in the Nigerian defence, a combination Super Eagles fans now refer to as ‘The Oyibo Wall.’

Eagles file out for W/Cup qualifier. Image: NFF

The Super Eagles punched their ticket to next year’s showpiece with a victory over Zambia and Balogun has nothing but praise for the Chipolopolo which he described as a ‘complete team inside out.’

“Other teams that we played against do not have the technical depth of the Zambians. They have a complete team inside out. They kept coming at us from all sides of the field. It was very difficult containing them.

“Their wingers were very quick and skilful. They are a unit. They play for each other. They gave us a tough time throughout the game. They are a team for the future. They would have qualified if they were in another group.”

Leon Balogun then went solemn as he gushed about his Nigerian grandmother whom he never got to meet before she passed on and how proud she would be.

“Before the game against Zambia, I thought about my Nigerian grandmother, who I never got to see, as she has passed on but was told of the love she had for me and the other grand children I thought about what this World Cup ticket would have meant to her were she to be alive and the answer I got from my mind is that she would be weeping and overcome with emotions in the afterlife,” Leon Balogun told Vanguard.