Completesports.com’s Live Blogging of Morocco 2024 WAFCON – Women’s Africa Cup of Nations – Group B match-day 2 game between The Mares of Botswana and Super Falcons of Nigeria at Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca.
Botswana Vs Nigeria Live Blogging – Morocco 2024 CAF WAFCON; Group B Matchday 2
Nnamdi Ezekute
Nnamdi Ezekute, a sports reporting expert, has risen through the ranks at Complete Communications Limited (CCL) famed for publications like Complete Sports.
Email: [email protected]
X (Formerly Twitter): @Ezekutive
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17 Comments
Ihezuo, Okoronkwo, and Onumonu on the bench? Lol.
Anyway, hopefully you win this game, then start this trio upfront in the last game, and see the difference in chances created and converted.
Oshoal and Rinsola are impact players. That was how Waldrujm used them and they were more effective that way.
I’ll start Ordega ahead of Risnsola.
Hello there guys. The match is live on YouTube. Type in IBZO and you will watch it there. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
That link now longer works, Omo9ja
I beg for help o, when I type IBZO, what comes out is EMZO
Trash!!!
A whole Super Falcons, zero shot on target for an entire 45 minutes.
Incidentally, our most potent threats were Ajibade and a defender (Plumptre).
Take out Oshoal and Rinsola and bring in Ordega and Okoronkwo, then Ihezuo.
This coach is not competent.
The formation is not working and oshoala and abiodun should go out for esther and uchebe, even toni Paign should go out for echiegine, this starting eleven is too bad, about 5 players are 30s oshoala, ayinde, ohale, paign and plunmtre are old mamas.
My point exactly. He doesn’t know his best 11 and the best formation to deploy. He’s just relying on experience, which is why he starts the old legs.
You can tell Desire Oparanozie, the female commentator, is disappointed with the first 11 and substitutions.
Whereas Waldrum was introducing a fresh, energetic, and talented crop of Echiegini, Okoronkwo, Onumonu, Alozie, Abiodun, and speed stars like Ihezuo. He only played experience at the back(aside the goalkeeper) and limited appearances for old legs like Oshoala, Oparanozie, and Ordega.
I dey vex dey watch dis match aswr
Our tactics lack the necessary compression to make the pitch even bigger for Botswana cos I don’t understand how your frontline will press whilst your backline is still in your own half instead of the oppositions in order words our team shape is stretched.
The falcons also lacked the necessary technical application (an old problem) to execute passes,crosses properly which is why our football still looks rudimentary as if we’re still playing waldrum ball.
And why cant the coach balance his midfield cos the ayinde-abiodun-ucheibe/payne combo is too similar which leads to the question as to why Echegini not starting games and why is there a curious lack of movement whenever asisat starts.
It seems that we’re still stuck with waldrum 2019 tactics and its not a good watch for us Nigerian fans.
Total rubbish.
Only what these set of girls know is social media.
Echiegini should be starting matches. She’s about the most intelligent Falcon. And, wow, didn’t know Alozie was such a talent and hard worker. Thought she was mostly beauty o.
Oshoala should be coming from the bench in the last 15 minutes. The front should be led by Ajibade, Okoronkwo, and Ihezuo, with Echiegini just behind them.
The coach should give playing time to Onomonu and Ordega in the next game, please.
The team is individually good. The coach just doesn’t know his best starting 11 and the best substitutions and when.
Why does Coach Madugu insist on benching his best attacking players? Must Asisat Oshoala always start Super Falcons’ matches? Look, if it’s a must to include her in the squad for her experience and legacy, fine. But starting her in every match by default—even when her pace and intensity no longer match the tempo of top international games—is not helping the team.
Let’s talk facts: Chinwendu Ihezuo and Esther Okoronkwo came in during the second half of the last game and completely changed the game’s momentum. They brought energy, aggression, and directness—everything the attack had been missing. So why bench them in the next game again? What sort of tactical thinking is this?
Now to Deborah Abiodun. She’s promising, no doubt, but she’s been a foul magnet throughout this competition, and it’s only a matter of time before she puts the team in serious trouble. What happened to Christy Ucheibe? She’s solid, disciplined, and has proven herself time and again. Why not give her the start and let Abiodun come in if needed?
And then there’s the mystery of Francisca Ordega. Not one minute of play since the tournament began? Make it make sense. Even if you believe Rinsola Babajide is the better winger (a highly debatable claim, by the way), then why not substitute her like for like with Ordega when Babajide tires out? It’s basic game management.
Let’s not even get started on the curious case of Jennifer Echegini. This girl is a natural No. 10—creative, direct, and fearless. Why is she coming off the bench instead of bossing the midfield from the start? And why is Rasheedat Ajibade, a top attacking forward, being bogged down with midfield responsibilities when she should be tearing defenses apart from her usual attacking position?
Toni Payne, too, has been underwhelming in that number 7 role—no real penetration, no final product. Michelle Alozie, God bless her hustle, has been very sloppy: misplacing passes, giving away possession, and losing 1v1 battles. It’s frustrating to watch because we know these ladies are talented—but something is clearly off in how they’re being managed and deployed.
Truth be told, this team looks disjointed, and the coach must take a large portion of the blame. There’s no clear tactical structure, no consistent pressing pattern, and absolutely no cohesion in transition. It’s worrying. If this continues, teams like Morocco or Zambia will slice us open with ease.
Let’s hope Coach Madugu is watching what we’re all watching, because if this is what we’re going into the knockout rounds with, the Super Falcons might not fly very far. I hope this doesn’t happen.
That is the reason why some of us have been asking: “Madugu who?”
For me, I was always afraid of falling from the heights of 2023 world cup and even the Olympics last year where we lost narrowly to champions in their own right.
It will be a shame for Plumptre to miss the next world cup because of “go express yourself” coach less input football.
For God’s sake, the winners of our group will play the runners up in Morocco’s group and THAT WILL DETERMINE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE NEXT WORLD CUP 2027.
Semi finalists are guaranteed four slots from Africa.
Is it this tepid performance against the lowest ranked team in the tournament that we will even reach semi final?
Asking for ‘la decimal” is too far reaching.
Today’s game was eyesore. No shot on target for full 45 first half minutes against who? Opponents only playing their 5th WAFCON match?
I thought a team was supposed to go from strength to strength.
Let’s stop pretending.
Ibrahim Gusau is, without question, the most spectacular disaster to ever sit in the president’s seat at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) — and that’s saying something, considering the line of underachievers that came before him. Since I started watching Nigerian football, I have never witnessed such an uninspired, hollow, visionless, and frankly clueless administration. If this is what leadership looks like under Gusau, then Nigerian football has not just gone to the dogs — the dogs have looked at it and walked away in disappointment.
This man came in with zero blueprint, no discernible football philosophy, and not even the pretense of progress. Under his reign, chaos has become culture. Every national team — from the Super Eagles to the Golden Eaglets, Flamingos to the Super Falcons — is now gasping for breath, directionless, demoralized, and criminally mismanaged. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion, except the driver is asleep at the wheel and the passengers are the dreams of millions of Nigerians.
Gusau’s tenure is the equivalent of entrusting a broken-down molue to a man who doesn’t know how to ride a bicycle. From laughable coaching appointments to shady selections, from youth football neglect to chronic underfunding, everything has been marked by incompetence so staggering, you begin to wonder if sabotage is the actual goal. Our U17s now look like a group of boys dragged from a cybercafé and handed jerseys; our Super Falcons, despite their talent, keep being set up to fail by senseless tactics and obvious favouritism; and our once-feared Super Eagles? They’ve become a team of overhyped individuals who don’t play like they’ve ever seen each other before — or a football, for that matter.
But let’s not act confused. All roads lead back to the top. Gusau, a man whose football CV can’t pass a Sunday league test, was never meant to be there in the first place. He emerged from a questionable electoral process dripping in politics and old-guard manipulation, and now we’re all paying the price. Merit has been slaughtered on the altar of tribal sentiments, backdoor deals, and recycled football dinosaurs with nothing to offer but excuses and nepotism.
Let’s also not forget the shameful silence in the face of scandals — players calling out coaches, infighting in camps, unpaid bonuses, age-grade teams crashing out embarrassingly, and yet no one is ever held accountable. Instead, the NFF’s default response is gaslighting Nigerians with empty press releases and blaming “lack of funding,” as if we haven’t seen nations with fewer resources outperform us by miles.
This is no longer about football. It’s about national dignity.
Gusau has failed. Period. Nigerian football under him is a body without a soul, a ship without a compass, a joke without a punchline. We are tired of watching talented players wasted under coaches who should be nowhere near a national team bench, hired by a federation that seems allergic to progress.
It’s time for the Federal Government to wake up from its slumber and declare a *state of emergency* in Nigerian football. The National Sports Commission must call the bluff of FIFA who provides the shield for incompetent federation like the NFF. The federal government should immediately dissolve this NFF board, set up a competent interim body, and commence a *total reform* of our football system from the grassroots to the top. No more recycling of failed administrators. No more quota-system coaching appointments. No more charades disguised as football development.
We need a *new order* — one built on merit, vision, accountability, and a deep love for the game.
Gusau must go. Not tomorrow. Not next month. *Now.*
This is what you get if you don’t do the right thing.
I will not blame Coach Madugu, but NFF A.K.A Ajewomasan, the debtor.
If they hired a sound coach who knows his job well, the Falcons wouldn’t play like a primary school team.
The coach is not good enough to manage the team. What a disjointed team to watch, and we expect our Mama of Africa to make us proud, abi? While the NFF, which knows nothing about football, cares not about us, the patriotic Nigerians.
If a good coach handles this, our team, Kai, no team can withstand the Super Falcons, but in the same way they are running our country, is the same way they run everything about Nigeria and Nigeria as a country is struggling to stand on its feet kę.
We, the fans, have warned the coach to make changes in his second match, but he did not listen.
NFF should just vacate their offices. NFF is embarrassing us and if it continues this way, Super Eagles and the Super Falcons may not win any tournament under the current NFF.
Coach Madugu should enjoy his time because a second chance is not guaranteed.
Okafor has not started a single match in this tournament yet, the gaffer has refused to ring changes in his 1st 11. Other quality players are sitting on the bench when the Falcons are struggling to play good football under coach Madugu?
NFF are satisfied now ba? I just pity our ladies under this coach and the current NFF. No hope if the gaffer continues like this. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!