Brighton Hove Albion of England summer signing, Leon Aderemi Balogun has admitted that he felt bad after Nigeria’s ouster at the World Cup, following a 2-1 loss to Argentina in their last group match, but says the onus is now on him and the other players to recharge themselves and fire back stronger.
Balogun took time out at the weekend to reflect on his first World Cup experience at Russia 2018 and, after seeing his hopes of a round of 16 ticket go up in defeat against Argentina just a day before his 30th birthday, the former SV Mainz of Germany stopper says he is already making efforts for a revival.
The Germany-born defender, who took a switch in nationality to debut for Nigeria in 2014, said he is happy to finally get his World Cup dream realised, after injury knocked him out of contention for the squad to Brazil four years ago, but says it is now time to plan for the future.
Balogun, who was one of the key players that featured in all Nigeria’s three matches at the Mundial, reckons the Eagles’ future is bright in spite of the early exit at Russia 2018.
He declared: “It will be very important to keep going the way we have started. We have experienced players, young players, talented players – and there are even more players that are not in the team yet.
“We have to keep developing them and investing in their football education. We just have to keep working and keep our focus on advancing year after year and then in the next four years we will have a good team – maybe an even better one
“The hour after the loss was terrible. Everyone was just trying to deal with the loss and move on. It was a quiet dressing room but definitely one that we have learnt a lot and hopefully formed some players.”