Super Falcons interim head coach Justine Madugu says the team is battle ready for Wednesday’s (today) clash against Ethiopia.
The nine-time African champions were held to a 1-1 draw by the Ethiopians in the first leg in Addis Ababa last week.
Both teams will clash again in the reverse fixture at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
Madugu claimed his girls were disappointed with the result of the first leg are and ready to step on the pedal against the East Africans.
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“We were not too happy about the result of that first game. It’s unfortunate not to win the first leg but we are equally realistic with ourselves,” the gaffer told theff.com.
“We had some challenges in that game, and did our best to quickly surmount them. The girls have overcome those challenges and are really determined to make sure they are part of the Olympics next year.”
The overall winners of the second round tie will face Cameroon or Uganda in the next round.
Uganda defeated Cameroon 2-0 in the first leg.
The second leg of the game will also be played in Yaounde today.
By Adeboye Amosu
16 Comments
Oga Madugu you should have joined the girls for the cardio,from the look of things you seem to need it more!Hahaha…
Meanwhile,i’m sure of victory today,the super falcons were a hapless victim of a strange pitch and weather in the first encounter.I listened to Madugu’s post match comments he was unsatisfactory with officiating,the Onumonu’s goal from my position was legitimate but i could be wrong because the camera coverage was poor.
But evaluating the opponent,not underestimating the Ethiopians,because they must have done well to get this far,they’re no match for the super falcons who i expect to annihilate the Ethiopians in todays must win encounter,though a goalless draw should seal qualification to the next round for the super falcons.
To make victory easier,Oshoala should either start from the bench or right wing.I’m a fan of Ajakaye but her invitation came too soon..Kanu and Onumonu should complete the front three with evergreen Rasheedat Ajibade playing behind them.
Apparently,Ajibade has risen as the principal of the team,so in that regards,a lot is expected of her.
My prediction,3nil super falcons.
With more time to train and finetune their strategies, the spotlight for me is to see what Magudu actually brings to the table.
Does he have sufficient authority in the eyes of the players to bring his own philosophy to bear?
What has he got in his tactical locker?
In the event of Waldrum being absent for a far longer period than expected, can we glean from the output of the match whether Magudu is tactically grounded enough to temporarily step in as a competent gaffer?
Is he bold and imaginative enough to make telling changes to the starting 11?
We will find out soon.
Waldrum’s contract ends today and NFF didn’t renew it. Of course, from outset there was no plan to do so and they were only playing hide and seek.
Last time, they conveniently and shamelessly shifted the blame for Waldrum’s absence to his commitment to his regular-salary-paying college team, and not their own mind games. As if it’s not common sense and logic to prioritize the job of a paying client.
I just hope this stupid experiment with Madugu and Ann don’t blow up in everyone’s faces eventually with a shock result today. Then there’ll be no hiding place for Gusau and Olajire.
More surprisingly, fans are not even questioning the NFF over this risky experiment. We all seem to think all we need are the players cos “we have the best on the continent.” Most of us seem to think the coach is just an accessory, a ceremonial figure who doesn’t really matter.
Was the Falcons’ impressive performance at the World Cup down to the players? I think it’s the coach mostly.
You all have spoken well, my people. The way NFF treated coach Waldrum was very bad, and the NFF are making excuses upon excuses to cover up their atrocities. Time will tell soon.
However, coach Madugu did his best in the first leg, and I am expecting him to do much better.
Two things I expect of him to do in today’s match are these. Benching Oshoala and Onumonu is the only solution. Both of them can come in the second half of the match.
If the coach can boldly do that, I believe we are going to see the best of our ladies in today’s match.
Falcons didn’t do badly against Ethiopia in the first leg but in day’s match, Super Falcons will be more serious in front of goal because they had trained together for few days and had more time to relaxed and more than ready for the encounter.
All I can do is wish them the best. Go and make us proud out there girls. All the best, Super Falcons. Ire o. God bless us all. God bless Nigeria!!!
Look if treated properly Coach Waldrum can get plenty of our girls who really want to pursue academics into his school, Pitt University, like Deborah easily. Once you have played at any level of your country’s national team having the minimum entry qualification you are good to go.
Besides he did beyond expectations at the World Cup. This is a lifeline for our youths in sports if managed properly and he will not collect money from you as some coaches did in our time. Despite the fact that it was a scholarship they went ahead to milk dry the athletics. This will cut across all sports in Nigeria.
I watched the match live. The pitch was an issue, When will Waldrum come back.Hope before the next game with Cameroon.It was Oshoala day, but she is more effective playing wide than as centre forward.The new girl from Spain did very well as well as Esther Oyenozide.The Ethiopians played a compact 4-5-1 in the first half with two players double teaming oshoala.The Nigerian midfielders were too far from the box for the second balls as Rashedat was deployed as a deep playing midfielder.Things got better when she palyed a more advanced role towards the end of the first half with Oshoala deployed to the wings, That freed up the spaces which Kanu enable to cut in from the left to score as Oshoala has dragged the defenders to the right.
Any link pls
Try youtube
It’s on facebook
Oshoala should be pulled out!!
Oshoala has been Very good. She almost scored.
Yeah she played well the last 20 mins.In my opinion she should swap positions with Onumonu let Onumonu play in the centre forward Oshoala seems to have lost her scoring boots.I like her I want her to do well of course I do,she’s a superstar you should think she should have scored with the two chances she was presented in the first half,misses like that could come back to haunt you.Kanu schooled her on how to score a simple goal shouldn’t be too hard for a Barcelona top striker!
If the new coach knows his onion, he should not start Oshoala in this game today. She seems to be having problems in her games.
This team is not playing well. This team is not playing well. Remove the imposed, experimental coach and get a quality coach now. There’s no tactical brilliance, just a disjointed display of individual talents playing with no clear direction.
See them struggling against Ethiopia, yet Ghana dispatched Benin, a much stronger opponent than Ethiopia, 3-0 just yesterday. This present coachless SF team will struggle against Benin. How so different from the team we saw at the World Cup cos something vital is missing.
We all seem relaxed and quietly confident cos it’s Ethiopia but the real test will be against Cameroun if we get past Ethiopia.
Meanwhile “Blabbermouth” Olajire as Communications Director couldn’t organize a simple thing as beaming a live SF match, even though the Ethiopian Football Federation (NFF) showed them how to last week by putting the match on YouTube. They had all the camera angles on and streamed it from a central monitor that had all the camera feeds and angles on it. Standard live streaming procedure, so the video editor can pick which angle to show at different points in the game.
But NFF will not even be bothered. Individuals are streaming it for them on Facebook with just a single camera angle mounted in the stands and zoomed, which means poor viewing experience for people watching at home.
Yet I bet multimillion naira would have been budgeted for this game and entered into the account ledger as “spent on hosting the Super Falcons Vs Ethiopia” match while the loot is shared afterward.
Even with a win today, this team is poor and will fall against a stronger opponent in Africa,
Who is leading and score pls.
They won 4-0 (Kanu, Ajibade (2 goals), Oshoala).
I’m not impressed though, not the scoreline but the over all play like a coachless team.