Super Eagles newbie, Jamilu Collins, has expressed his delight at the opportunity to represent his country despite playing in the lower league.
The 24-year-old is on the payroll of second-tier German side Paderborn.
Collins who was impressive on the left against Libya says he is surprised as he never expected being on the radar of coach Gernot Rohr and his scouts.
“At first, it was surprising, despite the fact that I’ve been working really hard in Paderborn,” Collins told Goal on Monday.
“Secondly, I’ve been praying for it to come and when I got the call-up, I was a little bit surprise – surprise of happiness and it was a joy for me to see that I’ve my country watching over me while playing. I never expected it that they watched me.
“It was a great feeling and I was happy about it.”
“I know that if you follow football very well you’d never react [badly to a player invited from the 2. Bundesliga].
“When you don’t follow football, you can’t [have a] say… but it’s normal. This is not the first time, we have such everywhere.”
Aged 18, the Kaduna native was called up by John Obuh for the 2013 Toulon Tournament where he made no appearance.
Five years later after surviving five loan spells from his first professional club Rijeka in Croatia and a promotion from German third-tier league, he was handed his maiden national team invite, alongside England born centre-back Semi Ajayi, also part of Obuh’s set-up in 2013.
