Falconets head coach Chris Danjuma has said prolificacy in front of goal cost his team a place in the semi-final at the ongoing 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
Danjuma’s ladies crashed out of the competition after falling to a 2-0 defeat against the Netherlands.
The West Africans were favourite to win the encounter at the Estadio Alajuela Morera Soto but failed to replicate their group stage performance.
The Falconets dominated the game but were let down by their poor marksmanship.
Read Also: #2022 U-20 WWC: Netherlands Defeat Falconets To Reach First Ever Semi-finals
Zera Hulswit and Ziva Henry were on target for the Dutch.
“This is football when your opponent capitalizes on your mistake and they punish you for that,”Danjuma told a press conference.
“I think we had these few mistakes starting and we were punished for it and we had our chances and we could not take it.
“Football is all about taking your chances. But it is just unfortunate because nobody wants to go into the game and lose. We wanted to go all the way, but it did not happen.”
36 Comments
I do hate it when coaches come to the media to stylishly bastardise their players for being responsible for a loss.
What was the job of you as a coach? What strategy did you have for the match? What tactical input did you imbibe in them? No proper set pieces strategy, no positional play, he just put 11 players on the pitch to showcase their talents for all to see and then work their ways to the goal.
Netherlands had only 3 shots at our goal and scored 2 while we had about 15 shots with no real threat to their GOALKEEPER……………….that’s purely down to lack of tactical technicalities.
These girls dominated the match from start to finish but simply do not know how to breach the Orange Girls’ defence line.
Well, all good. Better luck to Falconets next time
Nigerian coaches lack tortoise brain wen dey go into a competition..nff shud isolate and transplant DNA of tortoise into their brain .look at the 2 goals scored by the Netherland ladies it came the same way. And dey st back to defend their pole. But the falconet use all energy running around.
This is wat Tunisia did at afcon
Ghana blacks did again to dump eagles out of Qatar
Falcon lost same way at awcon
The same thing wil happen to the local chan eagles against Ghana
And going to world cup by falcon we wil see it happen again
It has now been officially established to be foolhardy in being invested in any Nigerian national team who starts a tournament in blistering form.
Despite wading through the group stages undefeated, Danjuma’s damsels fell like a pack of cards against the Netherlands yesterday to exit the U-20 women’s world cup tournament with their tails between their legs.
So much for tournament favourites! Two neat and cunningly conceived goals by the ladies in Orange put paid to any pipe dream the Falconets had harboured of lifting the trophy.
“I think we had these few mistakes starting and we were punished for it and we had our chances and we could not take it,” said a humbled Coach Danjuma after loss to Holland.
In truth, Danjuma’s mistakes were his inability to identify his own team’s Achilles heel before the game. Both of Holland’s goals came from the same routine and the same areas on the pitch: crosses from Nigeria’s left wing, botched clearance by our center back and certainty of shooting past a goalkeeper that had been suspect throughout the tournament.
The Dutch had done their homework and the results were there for the world to see.
Match all those factors with Nigeria’s predictability under Danjuma and lack of imagination up front, embarrassingly wayward long range shots, inadequate composure and a coach that barked allocution from the touch line constantly, then you have a recipe for imminent defeat.
And that is what exactly happened!
Nigerian coaches are too one dimensional and predictable. They seem to have a potent Plan A and a weak Plan B, that is if they have any plan B at all.
All of Holland’s “mistake goals” as Danjuma put it, came very early in the game. There were still a whole 60 minutes for Danjuma to manufacture a route back in the game for his girls.
Instead, all his touchline yellings yielded were meaningless shots and drainage of morale for his girls.
Another tournament has ended in failure for Nigeria after starting so promising, with many minutes left to rectify the initial damage and navigate the campaign back to safety.
Local coaches have a long way to go. Their Plan “As” usually initially blindside and bewilder oppositions while raising false hope for fans by sending us off the beaten track. But, immediately their strategies are swiftly decoded, there is nothing left: the team will collapse in spectacular fashion with fans left to pick up the pieces.
With this outing, I will now forever be wary of any Nigerian coach that is quick off the block – my fingers have been burnt far too many times!
Well said @deo. A team went behind early in a game but could not come back into the game with all the handsome time it had! I have said it that I will not keep wake again to watch Nigerian teams that only bring heartbreaks when joy and happiness are expected going by how the team started. I better be reading Nigeria’s team exploits henceforth (if any) after games!
Talking about Nigerian coaches….wait until you see our current flying Eagles U20 coach….
Ladan Bosso…Another heartbreak coach…
I dont know why we don’t have match readers.The Netherlands had one and was busy reading the game,while Nigeria had none. No counter strategies,no positional play,the backline don’t help in attack,they just sit back,we were too predictable and relying heavily on sebastine and completely not using the right wing.The positives is that we have at least 4 falconneta that should replace the age Falcons players. I don’t know what a 35-38yr old players are still doing in FALCONS.Very unfortunate really.
Watch Onome Ebi make the WC squad again when other teams will be fielding young and fast players…. We go dey carry that lady wey dey make up to play soccer. Onome Ebi should not be in that, after 5 world cups it’s time to give younger players a chance…A combination of a young girl like Demehin, the left back of the u20 and Ehi should be good for defense.
Ordega the make up player…
Hi Bayo,
I tend to concur with you. Despite the failure of the Falconets to fly to glory in this tournament, I still advocate blooding at least 2 of thier players into the immediate Super Falcons team.
These are:
Oluwatosin Demehin – despite her double misteps against Netherlands yesterday, she can gradually be infused into the immediate Super Falcons team as one of the full back options. She acquainted herself in this tournament but was let down by inadequate instructions and constant touchline meddling by coach Danjuma.
Who can she replace?
I think Michelle Alozie is way too talented offensively to be playing as a right fullback. I would pitch her higher up the field and experiment Demehin in that position in friendlies leading up to the world cup.
Rafiat Imuran: I will also advocate Imuran to be drafted into the Super Falcons as a substitute left fullback. I think has the speed and deliveries to produce acceptable performances in that department.
Who can she replace? It will be too risky to thrust Imuran into the Super Falcons in the same starting 11 with Demehin. That said, I think it is criminal to have supremely talented wingers cum attacking midfielders like the Payne sisters playing fullbacks. It curtails the full efficacy of thier attacking prowess. For me, Ashleigh Plumptre is not and never a full back.
I think 24 year old Glory Ogbonna can be the first choice left back with Imuran playing as a substitute. Imuran’s department was rightly targeted and breached yesterday by the Dutch. That had more to do with Danjuma’s inarticulate tactical constellation and arrangements rather than Imruan’s weaknesses.
Before I come under attack, what has to be remembered is that these 2 players are actually already Super Falcons internationals under Waldrum. Imuran was part of the Wafcon qualifiers while Demehin was included in last year’s USA tour.
My major bete-noire and gripe under Randy Waldrum is the use of makeshift right and left fullbacks.
The use of Plumptre, N Payne, T Payne and Alozie as fullbacks greatly diminish and distort these players’ effectiveness. Plumptre is a top quality centre back and the other three are lethal midfielders in their own rights.
Any of Demehin, Imuran or even Jumoke Alani can be speedily groomed to handle one of the fullback positions with a more mature natural wingback/fullback (like Ogbonna) maning the other side, both sandwiching mature centre backs.
Based on how things transpired in this tournament, I personally can now no longer make a case for any other Falconets players joining the Super Falcons at this time (despite my earlier generous optimism).
The likes Onyenezide, Sebastian, Idoko and Abiodun have a huge, promising and tantalising careers in front of them. But for the next 12 months,these attackers and midfielders have a mountain to climb to attempt to displace their entrenched and established Super Falcons elder sisters.
Idoko is a player I might have slightly pushed forward. But utilising her as a centre forward in the Under-20 Women’s World Cup tournament rubbed the world of seeing where her true talents lie (in my humble opinion).
The Super Falcons needs fullbacks more than any other personnel at this time. I think Demehin and Imuran can fit the bill.
Erratic shooting when a simple through pass to a lonely striker with zero marker would have made the difference. The fact that long shot worked previously doesn’t mean it should be used even when you’re not in a great shooting position. The rushing to score was just way too much that the opposite bench were just laughing as they were doing the opposite to score us on the other end of the pitch. Better days it was a black weekend in general for Nigeria Sports.
Do you guys realise that this is a delelopmental stage of and underage competition and mistakes is bound to happen from all/any of the players participating in this tourney irrespective of their countries.
With all the tactics and setup players can be carried away whil9oe playing. Adult pros do get carried away talk less of teens.
Na wa o
Do you guys realise that this is a delelopmental stage of an underage competition and mistakes is bound to happen from all/any of the players participating in this tourney irrespective of their countries.
With all the tactics and setup players can be carried away while playing. Adult pros do get carried away talk less of teens.
Na wa o
Realize what oga? Is it ghost that wins developmental tournaments or is it no longer the teams participating? Every failure at this stage is always greeted with the excuse ”developmental tournaments” So why are countries angling to win it if it is only for developmental purposes as you are touting? If it is solely for development, are you saying you do not have league to develop players? This is a tournament and you are even allowed to go search for players within the age bracket playing abroad (if any) to fortify your team. A tournament is a tournament and the goal is to be the champions! We simply failed here. Development ko
Thank you…. This guy just dey talk developmental up and down. So every team that came to the tournament came to train or what?
You getting it wrong, its only in Africa that we idolize/glorify an underage competition. In Europe, Asia and the Americas, they look at it as developmental stage and a feeder to the main senior team bearing in mind that only few may make the main team maybe 3 to 4 players max.
At this stage they are learning and it is expected that as they grow into the game the become better players. This makes transition into the senior team smooth and easy.
You guys should asks yourselves what have been the performance of SE over the years? That is the main thing. You guys should go and understand FIFA status on age grade competitions and stop having unnecessary headaches on underage competitions
@Kim,so, assuming we win this tournament, you won’t celebrate it? You will just see it as development stage abi? England won the under 20 back then which they celebrated for years. how many of them are now in their main squad?
*Solanke is still out there, looking for country to call him up
*Seyi Ojo is struggling with Cardiff city
* Lookman is now with super Eagles( I tot he should progress to three lions with your development)
* Josh Onomah is not even making the bench anymore for Fulham talkless of Playing.
* Ovie Ejaria is there with reading in championship.
* Except for Tomori who’s not even regular
All these players were selected mainly to go and bring in the cup being the best among millions of under 20s in their country back then which they did. We selected all those ladies cos we believed they were the best we had out of 200 million people to get us that trophy. They really tried accepted but the competition is not only for them to develop themselves but to get us the trophy and put our name in that record. Mr Development.
God bless you @Sean. Exactly my thoughts!
@Sean, for underage teams you do not expect all of them to move to the senior, one od the reason i wrote if you have 3 to 4 moving/ transition to the senior team, that itself is a big success. so your list does not hold water.
Along the line you still have late developers who could not cut it at underage but by 21 yrs grow into the game and master the art and are better than those that graduate from age grade. This is akin to education. You7 guys need to understand.
Its only in Nigeria you see fans mirroring an age grade player’s performance to a full senior and that is why on this site some fans even argue and compare Nwakali and Mikel Obi, isn’t that funny? Its high time we understand the meaning of age grade competitions and its objectives.
@Kim, OK! Now, I have heard you at least after dropping out of the tournament, they’ve developed. Ok.
If an apprentice spoil your fine native cloth or spoil your nice hair style, don’t blame him O! He/She will develop from there, just encourage him next time.
If they are too good as teens, then there is no need for them to play underage football, instead they will be playing for the senior national team.
WTF
Kim abi weytin you call your name?….you are talking balderdash…. For real?
Most of you guys are just saying rubbish. You watch the game week in week out and you still come in here to yarn dust. How on earth will you blame the coach for that game….the girls had their chances at almost every 10 minutes of the game, they were just naive, and they lack exposure. This was simply why the anxiety took over their game in the last third. Obviously, you can’t compare the dutch girls with ours, they have all played technical games at this level for some time. However, it was their strategy to capitalize on our mistakes (which worked), but we could have hurt them a couple of time. Sebastian had too many chances to not have scored, and a couple of them also. For me, i see lots of positives from the tournament, and i would rather want to encourage Danjuma and the girls to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes. God bless Nigeria
ode…..
Oponu
People just come here to talk rubbish as if their penis is speaking for them. How an idiot will not blame the coach for this fiasco is beyond me. The coach Danjuma was tactically poor. Only a blind man will not see this. So many armchair coaches writing garbage.If the Holland coach capitallise on how our mistakes, whose job was it to correct the mistakes or make the mistakes not to happen in the first place. Mumu people. The Dutch girls were in no way better than Nigeria. They were just coached better, period.
Lol! Naija Dan’s with their wahala
The falconet had finished playing, it’s left for the fans to start fighting themselves. Lol. As for me, reading sport news tire me these last two days. First of all .
Joshua, then Kamaru and now Falconet. Who’s next?
**Naija Fans****
Well, i saw this coming when the team was basking in the euphoria of winning their group matches. They seemed to not focus on their weakness which came to bear in their second and 3rd group games. They seemed lost in the final 3rd. Running out of ideas on what to do with the ball when they found themselves in the final third. On so many occasions, Sebastian had the opportunity to square the ball on the bi-line to her fellow team mates in the box but she decided to selfishly go solo whilst wasting good scoring opportunities. The major work of a winger in football is to make those necessary runs on the flanks and then finish up the job with a cross into the box to the already waiting strikers for proper finishing. Why didn’t the technical unit of the team do something about this deficiency earlier on when it was spotted? Were they busy telling them to just go there and express themselves like our mr chief technical adviser did to us when we cruised out of the group stages of afcon? I mentioned earlier that for them to progress from the quarter finals stage, they needed to be more precise and objective with their finishing in the final 3rd bcs the competition gets tougher as you progress from the group stage. Why was our defender romancing with the ball in the 18 yard box , with her back against her opposition and her front facing our goal post? Why couldn’t she just clear the ball right away to the stands? I hope lessons have been learnt where necessary to guard us against the future. The gals played well but at the end, it is results that matter and not really how well a team played. It is better to play a wack boring pattern and win games than play like Brazil and lose. History would only record winners of games and not losers who played down the sun. We would have been at the world cup if we had applied this principle that got us through the group stages of the world cup qualifiers but some stupid idiots felt otherwise. They preffered playing tiki taka football to getting results when it mattered most. Do not know why we never learn from history .
Nothing good can come to Nigeria unless we summon courage and voted out the bloody handed government led by Buhari and his party known as Association of Past Criminals (APC). Super Eagled failed, Super Falcons failed, Anthony Joshua failed, Usman failed, Economy collapsed ,terrorists take over power.
Anthony Joshua is British
So are you.
Honestly speaking this doesn’t deserve to manage our Super Falcons before the coming worldcup and the nff shoundn’t make an attempt to sack the current Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum because is very tacticals and experience.
Prolificacy! What kind of excuse and big grammar is that? Is this the Danjuma people said should manage the Super Falcons? He just kept on screaming at the girls for 90 mins, shoeing that he had no pre-game msnagement concept. A-beg let the man go and rest!