Leon Balogun has expressed his disappointment following the Super Eagles’ elimination from the AFCON 2021 in Cameroon.
A second half goal from Youssef Msakni sealed a 1-0 win against the Eagles who went into the game as favourites.
The Eagles had to play most part of the second half with 10 men after Alex Iwobi was sent off for a dangerous tackle.
Also Read: Pinnick Hails Super Eagles’ Endeavour After AFCON Exit
Reacting to the painful defeat Balogun, who missed the tournament due to injury, praised the Eagles for their impressive performance.
The Rangers defender also called on Nigerians to desist from insulting the players.
“An extremely bitter defeat ends our title aspirations for #AFCON2021. That doesn’t change the fact that they’ve been a joy to watch,” he wrote on Twitter.
“So please, don’t let negativity and bashing of players take over. Instead keep supporting them like you did before today! 🦅🇳🇬”
Balogun should be back in action for the Eagles when they take on Ghana in the 2022 World Cup qualifying play-offs in March.
14 Comments
too many Key players were Missing We Mouve.. I hope Pinnick and Co keep thier Stinking hands out of Squad Selections from hence forth only the Best of the Best.. Non of this We don’t need Emma Dennis and Victor Moses bull shit.. Also Lookman is doing really well at Leicester. Calvin Bassey is far better than Ekong and our two left back As well as he is versatille to, Aina was easily beaten for that goal it would not have happened with Bassey there or Ebuehi for that matter.
Please
Emma Dennis, Ademola Lookman, Victor Osimhen and Calvin Bassey should be their.
SE need good midfielders, we needed to use the midfield wen our flanks were caged. Amoo, Olise, Ejaria are needed…
All our Midfielders and strikers must go train on how to play short and long range shots.
Imagine Ndidi, with all his EPL experience could not string an acurrate shot on target (this is so bad, or is it only tackling ???). Ndidi should learn few things from Kante, Sunday Oliseh etc.
Ekong, Omeruo & Balogun are not solid at the back again, we need fresh center backs in the mold of Okechukwu Uche, Taribo, Yobo etc.
Pls and pls, Okoye is not ripe for SE no 1 gloves. I said this earlier… Good goal keepers make unimaginable saves both at close and long range…
How Okoye took over from Uzoho asNo 1 is still not clear. New goal keeper trainer who will comb home and abroad for a good goolie whether he is playing in a big club or not, so long as the talents, skill and passion is there, you can brush him and expose him.
It’s time to start looking inwards too, let’s mix things up with local and foreign pros.
The talented children of the poor should be allowed to feature without paying anyone a dime.
NFF, you all have so many questions to answer concerning Michael Olise sudden change of mind, Eze, Lookman switch, Ejaria, Amoo etc.
#SayNo-to-paytoplay.
You win some and lose some, that is a game. Whoever is abusing our wonderful ambassadors is an ingrate. The boys did well only that luck was not on their side. They will be well received back home that I can assure Balogun. Meanwhile, I would like the media to meet with the boys upon their arrival to know if they would be glad to continue with Eguavoen. It is now very important to move our football forward by learning from the mistakes of the past. God bless Nigerians.
Luck just wasn’t on our side. The goal is totally Normal 7/10 goalkeepers wouldn’t have kept the ball it changed the direction
@Mayans, I do not agree with you on this. Kindly watch the match again, look at how he wanted to catch the ball, when he should be parrying the ball. We should learn from our mistakes. Only poor keepers would concede such goals. A good goal keeper should catch that ball.
He has been conceding cheap goals (Cameroon Friendly, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone & now Tunisia).
It is a painful defeat but we must draw positives from it by rectifying the mistakes made and make the team stronger. Enough with all these excuses for Okoye. Even if he concedes against ghana and we crash out of the wc qualifiers, some of us will still come to this platform and continue with the excuses. If you have strong outfield players and an average goal keeper, you will always crash out of competitions. Afelokhai showed promise but shut out from the team. Adeleye , who in my estimate is the best goalie we have but he also is shut out of the team despite his heroics in Israel.
I hope NFF would have the common sense to relieve Alloy Agu of his duties because he has been a colossal failure. In 6 years, the only decent goal keeper we have is Uzoho. How did Noble make the team? What about the aging Apkeyi?
You can not build success out of illegality, eventually it will catch up and it cuaght up with us yesterday. The chicken came home to roost.
Dude,
You obviously know nothing about goalkeeping, so hush.
That was a ‘knuckle ball’ – a ball that has no rotation when it leaves the boot. This means almost ALL the spin on the ball is eliminated at the time shooting, therefore causing the ball to flutter unpredictably on its way to the goal. Worse still, the ball bounced, making it even more difficult to predict.
Okoye did well to even parry the ball. Most keepers wouldn’t even attempt to go for the ball.
Go and watch some of Cristiano Ronaldo’s freekicks and you would see what I am talking about.
I also noticed the swerve and bounce, it was also a reflex save because his view was obscured by two of defenders who trued to block the shot.
I think Okoye really tried to have even touched the ball.
Reminds me of the goal Vincent Enyema conceded against Argentina in the 2000 Word cup.
When appraising a goal keeper, below are the metrics to use:
1. Organization: A good goal keeper should be able to marshal his defense and arrange them. He must be verbose and a good communicator (Clearly Okoye is quite deficient here).
2. Distribution from the Back: A good goalie should be able to be good with his feet, modern football demands this now. Stats shows teams who have more possession tend to win often times (All he does is to lump the ball forward, often times to an opponent and this puts the team on the back foot). Most top coaches lay emphasis on playing out from the back because the possession of the ball allows the team to be dominant and maintain the pressure (Okoye is abysmal here).
3. Agility/Reflexes : A good keeper should have cat like reflexes and as thus must be able to make reactive saves. I was worried before the game that if the game went to a shoot out, we would crash out because his reflexes and not very good.
4. Aerial Balls: One would have thought that with his height, he should be dominant in the air but even during set pieces , he will punch the ball out. This is clearly a part of his game he needs to work on.
5. Keeper Sweeper: Okoye is decent but not the best in this area as he is not very good with his feet.
6. Confidence: A good goal keeper transmits confidence to his defense. They know that even when the defense is breached, they can count on the keeper. Okoye does not inspire confidence.
Dude,
Really don’t think you have any idea of what you’re talking about.
So, this is a 21 year old kid who was ranked as the BEST keeper in the Dutch league last year – a league that has produced, in recent years, world class goalkeepers like: Edwin Van der Saar, Jasper Cillessen, Tim Krul, Maarten stekelenburg, Ed de Goey.
This is a kid that recently got transferred to Watford in the EPL for 7M Euros, currently second highest transfer fee for a goalkeeper in Africa (behind Edouard Mendy).
ALL the attributes you listed were scouted and reviewed BEFORE clubs make decisions on keepers and he passed them in flying colors. I beg, make we see road!
And by the way, what team is Uzoho playing for again? Who knows.
Typical Nigerian, can not express his views without passing an insult. The gloves are too big for him to wear, you just highlighted the fact that he is 21 years old. He has a lot to learn but this is the SE we are talking about.
I don’t even blame the kid, i blame alloy Agu.
Also, the team you play for does not diminish your value. Okocha played for Fernabache , Frankfurt and Bolton and no one could doubt his quality. Our dear Enyeama played most of his career in Israel and is adjured arguably to be the best nigerian goal keeper ever.
I could go on and on, it is because of fans like you that this golden generation could be wasted due to your sentiments.
Is it when Ghana knocks us out of the qualifiers, you guys would come again and tell us that it is not his fault after he might have made several howlers. Instead of us to take stock and chart a new course that will bring glory to the country, you are telling me that i do not have any idea of what i am talking. Oya, you and the goal keeping coach that have the idea, what has it profited you? You crashed out of the 2nd round!
The first shot on target, ended in the back of the net. He should play for the u23 and not the SE. Is he one for the future? perhaps but he should not be manning the sticks for the senior team .
Ogah forget all those talk. The SE is the platform upon which Okoye is soaring joor!!!
Can you show or point to us 3 super saves of M.Okoye??? in SE from day 1 to last.
Good Goalkeepers keep their team intact when all hope is lost.
Mind you, it’s not just the Tunisia match alone, Burkina Faso, CapeV, Central African Republic blunders…. etc
Let Okoye focus on building his club career for the now and let better goalies take over simple.
Before, the Burkina Fosa match, I saw goals raining into our net as if there was no goal keeper there. Pls I know what I’m saying.
With Okoye, once the defense is beaten count it a goal… Is it the kind of keeper we want in SE??? Nooooooo!!!
The Salah save was not Okoye’s making, Salah would have easily beaten him if not for Ekong who gave Salah a shoulder push to throw him off balance. Watch the highlight again, Salah lost balance from the push and almost scored if not the defenders final clearance.
Pls and pls, this is arrant nonsense to defend an unserious and below average goalie.
If SE make that same Okoye mistake against Ghana, na cry una go cry come house… Ghana already knows Okoye is a poor goalie.
Try and see!!!
Okoye better go learn how to make quick foot steps before diving. He should learn few things from Mendy. Even De Gea would even use his foot to pull great saves….
Fine boy no show, with tattoo everywhere!!!
It’s direction and he made a good safe. But some Nigerians are just insane and inhumane. Wishing okoye plane to crash the goal wasn’t his fault be but he could have saved it
They had a good game irrespective, from the coaching crew to the boys, it was a collective effort. I hope the NFF would keep them together till the next Afcon.
The Tunisian coach got the tactics right. They really stopped Moses from dribbling past 2-3 players thereby creating goal scoring chances. The ref killed the match. Iwobi red card wasn’t right at all and even at that, they boys came very close to scoring. Am proud of the boys and they did well. Plsssss, no pointing of fingers, no insults or throwing abuses on players and coaching crew. Head to head wt Ghana is looming for the biggest stage( world club) Invite or the merited players and we’ll do better. We really missed Oshimen in that lineup. I don’t think we had an aggressive number 9. Let’s learn from this and mend it.