Eagles' defender said he is only a human who can make mistakes. He said he accepted the full responsibility for his actions. "So if ya'll expect me to be perfect, I apologise for being human. No mistake's too great to recover and bounce back."
Balogun said via a tweet on his verified Twitter hand @LeonBalogun: "You can love me or either leave me, but I'm only human & I make mistakes. Try not to hold that against me tho. I accept full responsibility for my actions, so if ya'll expect me to be perfect, I apologize for being human. No mistake's too great to recover and bounce back.
Madagascar senior national football team on Sunday shocked Nigeria’s Super Eagles 2-0 in teams last group match at ongoing 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.
The result dethroned Nigeria as the group B leader who have qualified to the Round of 16 after their first two matches but later ended up as runner-up of Group B, while Madagascar top the group.
During the Madagascar encounter, Leon Balogun failed to deal with a routine back-pass.
Madagascar scored their first goal in the 13th minute following a defensive blunder by Leon Balogun which saw Lalaina Nomenjanahary snatching the ball to score their first goal in the first half of the match.
In the second half, instead of working hard to get on level terms in no time, Nigeria quickly found themselves further behind.
The AFCON first timers doubled their score line and made it 2:0 in the second half. That was when substitute Wilfred Ndidi deflected a free-kick by Carolus Andrea past a wrong-footed goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa.
This is the first time Madagascar would be participating the Africa Cup of Nations and they are rated lower than 100th in the world.
The Eagles missed some scoring chances and failed to respond adequately to the Madagascar team both in the first and second half of the encounters.
Samuel Kalu fluffed a great pass by Ahmed Musa in the 19th minute.
Musa himself, left with the goalkeeper to beat as a pass found him in the penalty box, bungled with a poor first touch.
His subsequent attempt to dribble the goalkeeper failed.
A deep soul–searching is now imminent in the Nigeria camp after such a flat performance.
Captain Mikel Obi, who played his 89th match for the Eagles, was a shadow of himself, while Alex Iwobi made no difference when he came on.
Moses Simon and Wilfred Ndidi brought no spark or innovation on board when they were introduced.
Super Eagles' coach Gernot Rohr admitted his players were not good enough after their disappointing 2-0 defeat against Madagascar at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on Sunday.
In his assessment of the team’s display after the match, Rohr said his players were ‘relaxed’ but was not surprised by the result.
“We lost to a good team because Madagascar was the first to qualify for the tournament and there is no shame in losing to such a team,” Rohr said after the game.
“Madagascar was the better team today. We started with giving them a gift and after, we could not find a solution. We made five changes because we wanted to give a rest to some players and also preserve those with cards.
“Sometimes it happens when you are already qualified; the players are relaxed and playing easy.” He said.
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