Two- times chief coach of the Super Eagles, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, has insisted that, the late Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun, remains the best footballer ever produced by Nigeria, as the Balogun family today July 30, 2020, remembers the soccer legend in his 48th year memorial, when he died in his sleep in 1972. The former FIFA and CAF Instructor, noted that: The greatest footballer Nigeria has ever produced was Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun. There is no doubt about it. As a footballer, he did many things players before his time, those of his time and after and even years to come did not do and have not been able to do with the ball.
“The greatest goal scored by any player I have seen played football was scored by ‘Thunder’ Balogun at the Olu Ibadan Stadium in 1968 in the match between the Nigerian national soccer team, the UK Tourists and England. “The English players were always on him each time he received the ball. To beat the pressure off, ‘Thunder’ stood outside the 18-yard box with his back turned at the England goalkeeper. A ball was floated to him from the midfield and the English players were waiting for him to bring it down. But against their imagination, he staggered a bit, and in turning, he fired a shot at the goalpost, which saw the goalkeeper diving the other way while the ball was already shaking the net,” Onigbinde stated. The former Trinidad and Tobago coach stressed that, “the story of ‘Thunder’ Balogun will never die. For those of us who watched him played, we saw him as Nigeria’s greatest footballer.”