The stage is set for the 2022 Women Africa Cup of Nations final qualifiers between Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire beginning with today’s first leg tie at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja and Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum said his wards would attack , and attack the visitors ; even as he gave glimpse of his personae in a rare interview with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN.
Football seemed to be the first love of Super Falcons’ coach Randy Waldrum and age has not tempered his passion so much so he has little or no interest in other sports except the beautiful game.
The 65-year-old American said nothing gives him so much happiness lately except football and the lovey-dovey sessions with his grandchildren at any opportune time.
“I don’t really have a lot of hobbies that I’m able to participate in outside of football ; because I just really don’t have that much time with my schedule ,” Waldrum said in an exclusive interview with NationSport. “First and foremost, I love football so much; it is my life; and everything that I have done revolved around football.
“But if I do have some free time and at this stage of my life, the most important thing is spending some time with my young grandchildren; that’s probably the most exciting thing I enjoy the most .
“ Outside of that , I love to play golf but I don’t get much of an opportunity .
“So because of my schedule, I like to spend time with my family whenever there’s some time at home
I’m on the road so much always traveling but I really enjoy my personal time ; just to sit home and relax and get into my swimming pool ; sit out with and drink a cup of tea and enjoy the scenery.
“ I enjoy the very simple things in life and I’m not a very complicated person ; I don’t need to have a lot of flamboyance life style rather I just really appreciate the simple things in life.
“ I know it sounds pretty boring but that’s really who I .
“Like I said, football really run so much of what my life is all about both on the pitch and off the pitch, “ but every other things revolves my family and we all enjoy spending time together .
This is really important to us and I will say that is how I handle my busy schedule ,” explained Waldrum who doubles as both the current head coach of University of Pittsburgh Panthers women’s soccer team and Super Falcons.
Since taken over the reins of the Super Falcons in October 2020, Waldrum claimed he has come to realise the African mentality especially working in a challenging terrain , adding he was grappling with the demands of working in Nigeria .
Apart from working in Trinidad and Tobago between 2014 and 2016, the former America international has virtually lived and worked all these years as a college soccer coach with vast experience with women’s soccer at some of renowned American Universities including ; University of Tulsa ;Baylor University ;University of Notre Dame ;Houston Dash and lately with University of Pittsburgh as well as Nigeria national women’s football team.
“Thank you for welcoming me back to Nigeria and you know with your question regarding me leaving my comfort zone in the US to come back to the Super Falcons; and how has that transition worked for me?” Waldrum who reportedly started his coaching career with the men’s team of Austin College in 1982, asked rhetorically. “You know this is something I’ve done for years now, I coached back in Trinidad Tobago and so; I’m used to leaving what I am comfortable with in the US and going to work in other countries and so it’s not really they big of a transition.”
He continued: “ Obviously, the more I come back to Nigeria, the more comfortable I am with everything from travel to hotels; to the way we do things here in Nigeria and so forth ,so I’m feeling very comfortable and very excited .
“ I’m always excited to leave the US to come back to work with the team ; so it’s a fantastic group of young women and excited about what the future holds for us and always looking forward to my return.”
On his penultimate return for the Aisha Buhari Cup last year, Waldrum had a rude awakening about how competitive women’s football in Africa can be when the Banyana Banyana beat the Super Falcons 4-2 to win the maiden edition of the invitational tournament in front of the home fans at the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium (MJS) in Lagos.
“I have always known how competitive women’s football is in Africa and obviously in the tournament (Aisha Buhari Cup) we lost to South Africa,” admitted Waldrum. “There were lessons that we learnt and we have to take that from every game; whether we win or lose there are always things that we can improve upon and certainly one of the things that we have to understand is in the big picture and a preparation for the World Cup .
“All of these tournaments and all of these international matches that were playing , are all geared towards preparing us for the World Cup.
“Of course, so certainly couldn’t have all of the players for that match against South Africa since we were missing some key players but that doesn’t take anything away from South Africa and how well they played .
“But we learned some things especially defensively ; we have to be a better equipped to handle and offensively finding that our players must play well together.
“The game of football is not always about just the best players, it’s about putting the best collection of players together and working together; we learnt that certainly with that result (against South Africa) just as we learnt with t games in Turkey and our games in the US , when we played Portugal and Jamaica in the US ; all these things are learning experiences,” Waldrum explained.
Yet the biggest test for Waldrum’s Super Falcons is here today at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja when Nigeria host Cote d’Ivoire in the first leg of the final round qualifiers for the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations to be hosted later this year by Morocco.
Incidentally, qualification for the 12th AWCON would give the offers the Super Falcons the chance to bid for a place at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand since the four semi-finalists in Morocco automatically guaranteed the continental tickets.
“We are preparing well for our next game against Cote d’Ivoire and we understand they’re very good team ; we are very familiar with them and we respect the fact that on any given day if you’re not prepared to play, they are a team that can cause problems for us,” Waldrum admitted.
He continued: “But he big picture for us as a country is that we feel like we have all the talent, we feel like we have a great team and a great support from a federation .
“Always, our style will be about attacking football and that’s the way we will approach the game (against the lady Elephants) whether it is in Abuja or it’s in the Ivory Coast (Abidjan).
“We want to play an attacking football ; we want to be on the front foot, we want to control the game and forced them to play out of their comfort zone.
“Obviously, those things(attacking football) don’t always happen and that’s what the training as well as the preparation is for us to get a better understanding within the players of the game model and how we want to approach the game.
“Certainly, we will approach it that way whether we were playing the Ivory coast (Cote d’Ivoire) or England. We will still approach the game the same way , we want to be an attacking football team , we want to be exciting and creative but we also want to be defensively disciplined and secured,” the former New York Cosmos midfielder added.
WALDRUM:FACT FILE
Full name Randy Marlon Waldrum
Date of birth September 25, 1956
Place of birth Irving, Texas, United States
College career Midwestern State University(1979–1981)
Senior career: Los Angeles Skyhawks; Indianapolis Daredevils;New York Cosmos
Teams managed
1978–1989 Pittsburg State University (women)
1989–1994 Tulsa (men)
1989–1994 University of Tulsa (women)
1996–1998 Baylor University (women)
1999–2013 University of Notre Dame (women)
2014–2016 Trinidad and Tobago (women)
2014–2017 Houston Dash
2018– University of Pittsburgh (women)
2020– Nigeria (women)