After three consecutive Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) titles, Super Falcons failed to add the much sought-after 10th continental honour in Morocco to the chagrin of Nigerians even as stakeholders chart fresh road map for the once-feared Nigerian lasses. TUNDE LIADI reports.
The Super Falcons are considered the most successful female African team having featured in all the FIFA Women’s World Cup since its inception in 1991.
At continental level, from the 12 editions of the Women’s African Cup of Nations, Super Falcons has claimed nine titles of the most recognized female football competition on the continent.
Despite Falcons near dominance on the continent, the country has not replicated this at global level with only two knockout appearances from the eight appearances of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2019. Nigeria women’s team’s stronghold in Africa is also waning gradually with South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and even Zambia ready to knock them off the zenith of the game.
Incidentally, the Super Falcons finished fourth at the just concluded Women’s Africa Cup of Nations behind South Africa, Morocco and Zambia and this is undoubtedly their worst outing in the competition since 2012 when the team finished fourth in Equatorial Guinea.
Concerned by the below par performance of the Coach Randy Waldrum-tutored side in Morocco, women’s football stakeholders believed there must be deliberate efforts by those in charge of the game to revive the fortune of the senior national team.
Permanent Secretary, Edo State Sports Commission, Sabina Chikere lauded the performance of the Super Falcons but warned emphasis should be placed on adequate preparations for major competitions.
She noted with optimism that the Super Falcons can still dominate Africa and even stretch their tentacles to the world if the Federal Ministry of Sports in conjunction with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) pay close attention to putting sporting facilities in place and ensuring proper preparations for upcoming competitions .
“We need to prepare our athletes well ahead of time so that they will be mentally and psychologically ready for the task ahead,” Chikere said.”They need to have the enabling environment that they need to get them ready as well. With that the standard we have set will become unassailable.
“Other African countries that are fast catching up with us always get their athletes ready well ahead of time. We need to follow that path too. We need to get our athletes together in camp and they need to be provided with required facilities to get them equipped before the start of upcoming competitions.
“Emphasis should be on going back to the grassroots to spot hidden talents if well nurtured will form the bedrock of the various national teams from the junior to the senior levels.”
Equally, former Super Falcons defender, Adanna Nwaneri , clamoured for more involvement of local-based players in the senior women’s national team while foreign professionals should complement the team.
Nwaneri who attended the first three of the then African Women’s Championships with Nigeria from 1998 to 2002 said:”The Super Falcons improved in all the games they have played in Morocco after their first game defeat to South Africa.
“ I really appreciate the way they played against Morocco despite the loss. They showed the stuff they were made of. They played better in their games with Cameroon and Morocco than the other games they played.
“I want them to inject more home-based players while exceptional talents from foreign clubs are made to complement them. We had foreign-based players under Ismaila Mabo too, but he looked for the good ones among them while the home-based formed the fulcrum of the team.”
A foremost women’s football stakeholder, Paul Edeh thumbed up the fighting spirits of the Falcons in the defeat to Morocco despite playing with nine women for over 50 minutes.
“They didn’t do well against South Africa but they went ahead to win three consecutive matches before the semi-final loss to Morocco on penalties,” he said. “But the defeat to Zambia left so much to be desired regarding the quality of the players paraded in Morocco.
“What we have in the Super Falcons today they are mostly the set of players that have been there over a decade or even more representing our country; don’t we have replacements for these sets of players that have done this nation proud?
Edeh who is the President of Ratels Sports Development Foundation also stressed that grassroots development, grooming of players with a long-term programme in mind would ensure continous flow of talents to the national team.
“I think what South Africa, Cameroon, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea and other African countries have done better than us is to concentrate on grassroots development and grooming of players and ensuring that these players are together for a long time,” Edeh added.”I am one of those that believed that the Super Falcons were ill-prepared for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. Yes, we had a crop of players that are doing well for their various clubs who were invited but it is beyond doing well for your clubs.
“I think we should regroup and give more attention to the new crop of players that are coming up especially from the Under 17s and Under 20s and complement them with good players from the clubs in the various leagues and see how we can groom them on board to the Super Falcons. That way I believe we will always have an edge like we have always had in the past.”
Yet Bayelsa Queens’ former head coach, Moses Aduku, applauded the performance of the Falcons against Cameroon and Morocco.
“I must commend their performance against Morocco especially. They gave their best, but it was not enough to earn them a route to the final,” Aduku who won the 2021-2022 NWFL Premiership with Bayelsa Queens said.”I think we must maintain the structure we have in the league and there is the need for more Super Falcons players to emerge from the domestic league,” the coach added.