Rangers star Leon Balogun has surprisingly received praise from the chief of the Nigeria Football Federation despite his error leading to an embarrassing World Cup Qualifying defeat.
The Super Eagles recorded one of their worst competitive results ever on Thursday, losing 1-0 to minnows Central African Republic on home soil.
The winning goal – scored in the 90th minute by Karl Namnganda of French fourth division club Les Herbiers – came after a bad mistake from Balogun, who botched an attempted clearance before falling over and watching on helplessly.
Problems with chance creation were as much a factor in the result as the mistake, though, and NFF chief Amaju Pinnick singled the Gers star out as a player who tried his best to get the hosts going during the match.
“I want us to redouble our efforts,” he said [All Nigeria Soccer]. “I saw the zeal in Balogun, wanting to go to the midfield to help them.”
“He was going out of his way, I saw the zeal. Very good spirit, but is it productive enough?”
Balogun will hope he gets a chance to atone for his error on Sunday when the two African nations meet again in Bangui.
Joe Aribo is likely to continue in midfield, while Calvin Bassey should feature at some stage, even just to ensure that the 21-year-old Ger becomes cap-tied.
Even after the disastrous defeat to CAR, the Super Eagles are currently top of Qualifying Group C on six points from three matches. The other two nations in the group are Liberia and Cape Verde.
Meanwhile, a Rangers star was benched for a World Cup Qualifier on Friday as his international woes continue.
