Leon Balogun: When Keshi called me his son, I knew my international career had started

Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun says the late Stephen Keshi helped kickstart his international career.

Balogun said an unexpected phone call from Keshi served as the catalyst for his membership of the Eagles team.

The defender, who is of mixed nationality, said playing for Germany was not an option because there were many players that were “ahead of me”.

In an interview with DW’s Kres Harrington, the 29-year-old who plays for Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga said, “people started writing about me… then Stephen Keshi heard of me and I think it was in 2014 when he first called me”.

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“I picked up the phone, I heard the voice it was calm. He said; ‘hello Balogun, you know who this is? I said no sir. He sad this is Stephen Keshi. How are you my son? And I was like ‘wow’, it’s about to go down.

“2014, I was suppose to be in the squad already but the first call up against Mexico, I got subbed in, then broke my foot after 20 minutes run. That was why I missed the World Cup in 2014.”

Balogun said he was an emotional wreck when Nigeria beat Zambia to qualify for the World Cup.

“When we qualified against Zambia, the moment I heard the final whistle, I just broke down in tears. Because it means so much to me. It’s a childhood dream,” he said.

“When we were little kids, when we are playing on the playground, we say this is the World Cup. Everyone will be in one team and if you are in the final, you will be the World champion. So, now I can really compete against the best of the best in the world.”

He warned other teams in Nigeria’s World Cup group not to underestimate the Super Eagles, saying: “We have good attackers. Often especially most of the teams might not be aware of. Though, I hope they will not get a wake up call before then.

“That we will be the one to wake them up in the game. And of course, this is going to too late for them.”