Rangers’ Leon Balogun admits to ‘darkest hour’ with Nigeria after World Cup exit
Leon Balogun was one of three Rangers players to suffer World Cup heartbreak over the international break with Nigeria.
The Super Eagles were beaten to a place in the draw for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, taking place today, by Ghana despite both games being draws thanks to the away goals rule.
Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey also played their deciding fixture from the start but struggled to impact the game.
The 33-year-old has since taken to Instagram to express his sadness at being knocked out of the biggest competition in football.
“Everybody tried, everybody wanted to qualify so bad and play at the World Cup 2022 – for the 1st, for another or one last time,” Balogun wrote.
“The harder it is to accept that our best, individually as well as collectively, wasn’t good enough to make that happen – even more so given the rivalry.
“I will probably always remember this painful exit as my darkest hour with the national team.”
Unfair
Maybe this is something that will urge the African authorities to adjust their current set of rules for World Cup qualification.
A team shouldn’t be able to draw both games of a two-legged tie and either be knocked out or on the plane to wherever the tournament is taking place.
It’s a large reason why the away goals rule has been abandoned in UEFA competitions such as the Europa League that Rangers are still chasing this season.
In the event of a draw after 180 minutes, extra time should then be played, followed by penalties if no winner can be decided after that.
This has to be the fairest way to decide things because otherwise, you get teams just trying to defend at home and carrying a 0-0 into the second leg, knowing they only need to score once to put the opposition on the back foot.
In other Rangers news, this Sky Sports pundit has made his prediction for the crucial Old Firm derby on Sunday.