We should’ve been ‘a bit dirty and cold-blooded’ against Argentina – Balogun
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We should’ve been ‘a bit dirty and cold-blooded’ against Argentina – Balogun
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Nigerian international defender Leon Balogun has urged his teammates
to learn football’s darker arts following their 2018 FIFA World Cup
exit.
The Super Eagles exited the tournament last week when losing to
Argentina, who later crashed out on Saturday in the Last 16.
According to the centre back, he has called on his teammates to be a
bit dirty in their approach and said they must forget the tournament
and move on.
Balogun was one of the more experienced figures in a Nigeria squad
that was the youngest of all the teams in Russia, with an average age
of 25.
“It’s always important when you play internationals to be a bit
dirty,” the 30-year-old told BBC Sport.
“That’s what Argentina has, definitely, and you also need to be
cold-blooded – that’s probably the most important (lesson from this
World Cup).
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 – and 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.
“Everyone was just trying to deal with the loss and move on, so it was
a quiet dressing room but definitely one that learnt a lot and
hopefully formed some players.”
Under coach Gernot Rohr, the West Africans finished third in Group D
after losses to Croatia and Argentina, but bagged a 2-0 win over
Iceland.
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